Motherhood: A spring ferility festival spinoff
by jeffs
Summary: Keade asks Kagome to help her... as an assistant midwife. Rated for realism and sexual situations and childbirth chapter 4 exactly how will kagome raise Shippo?
1. Default Chapter

Motherhood: spring fertility festival spinoff  
  
This story takes place about one month after Yobai: night Visits.  
  
this story is rated R for sexual themes . . .  
  
Do not read if you are easily offended . . .  
  
FF.net removed this story. They didn't tell me why. I'm going to assume that they didn't like that I asked readers their opinions. (Making the story interactive). So... I'll have to edit that out.  
  
Inu-yasha and the rest of the group are walking into the village, after an adventure. They are all in a good mood. The adventure was obviously successful.  
  
"Kagome, could I talk to you, privately, please?" Keade asks as they approach her hut.  
  
"Sure, Keade." Kagome replies.  
  
They go into Keade's hut. They rest of the party looks at each other. Inu- yasha and Shippo go to opposite sides of the hut, and listen.  
  
Sango and Miroku look at each other and shrug. "We'll find out if it's important." Sango mumbles.  
  
Miroku nods.  
  
Keade, once they are inside her hut, turns and asks, "I know that you've just returned from an adventure, and would like to return to your side of the well, Kagome, but I would like it if you could help me."  
  
"With what?" Kagome asks, brightly.  
  
Keade, sighs, "you do remember the girl Emi?"  
  
Kagome thinks, "yes, she is the very pregnant girl that I talked with when I went to the girl's association meeting last month, right?"  
  
Keade nods. "Yes. And she is going to give birth soon. Within two or three days is my best guess."  
  
Kagome bites her lips, nods, sighs and says, "go on." Keade nods, "and I would like you to assist me with the birth." Kagome pauses. 'We just got a shard, and it was easier than we thought it would be. I had been hoping to spend a couple of extra days studying, not helping Keade, but. Which is more important?'  
  
She asks, "is my presence really necessary, Lady Keade?"  
  
Keade sighs and shakes her head, "truthfully, no. but, this is something I think you need to know. I am not ordering you, Lady Kagome. Consider this a favor, or a request, nothing else."  
  
Kagome purses her lips. She thinks, 'if this was an order, I probably would try to evade it by using my school work. But Keade is always doing things for the group, especially when I'm not here to help. Can I refuse her when she asks for a favor?'  
  
Kagome pauses. "Do you mind if I go through the well, first? I'd like my mom to know that everything is ok, and I'm going to be helping you for a couple of days."  
  
She thinks, 'and if my mom decides that school is more important, then I can use that as the excuse to refuse.'  
  
"Of course, you may go through the well, Kagome." Keade nods. "You will help. I take it?"  
  
"Unless there is something more important on the other side of the well, yes."  
  
Keade purses her lips, as she thinks, 'she's probably going to use her school as an excuse. Sigh. The next time, I'll have to time it so the birth is taking place when they return from an adventure and I need her help immediately.'  
  
Later. On Kagome's side of the well.  
  
In Kagome's house, in the living room.  
  
Kagome has just finished explaining to her mother about Keade's request.  
  
Mrs. H pauses. She says, "Of course, dear. You may go and help Keade."  
  
"School?" Kagome squeaks out.  
  
Her mother answers with, "A couple of days one way or the other isn't going to change much. And most of the time, a midwife or even her assistant will have a large amount of time on their hands waiting for the birth, so you can still study then."  
  
Mrs. H pauses, then continues, "And, you do want to become a doctor. So, think of this as a hands-on experience." She smiles. "You'll probably learn more by helping Keade then you would by any textbook." Kagome smiles, "I never thought of it that way, mother. Although with my grades"  
  
"Pish posh, my dear. You must look on the bright side. You will graduate and you will become a doctor, like you've always wanted to be." Mrs. H smiles, "And if, in the future, you and inu-yasha decide to stay in the past, you'll have to do this as a miko anyway, correct?"  
  
Kagome nods. "I suppose." She pauses. "Mom?"  
  
"Yes, dear?"  
  
"About what you just said?"  
  
"What part, dear?"  
  
"ahh... living on the other side of the well" Kagome whispers. "You. . . I thought... aahmm." Kagome can't finish the sentence.  
  
Mrs. H smiles, "Do I mind if you lived on the other side of well?"  
  
Kagome blushes, and nods.  
  
Kagome's mother sighs. She smiles, "As long as I can see my grandchildren, I wouldn't mind where you live."  
  
Her mouth twitches, "lately, Kagome, when you've been talking about Inu- yasha and your adventures, your face lights up, you laugh, you're alive. But, when you come home for school, you're dead." She sighs.  
  
Kagome's mouth twitches, "Sometimes, I do feel dead after school."  
  
Mrs. H. nods, "In the past, my dear, you are doing things. Here, on this side, it'll be years before you can help people like, on the other side, you can help people now. And, My daughter loves to help people." She smiles.  
  
Kagome blushes, remembering times when she's volunteered to help people. She nods.  
  
"Where you live, Kagome, I really don't care. Just as long as you're happy, where or whenever you live." She moves close and hugs Kagome.  
  
Kagome hugs her back.  
  
"Some nights I dream about playing with my dog-eared grandchildren." She whispers into Kagome's ears. Kagome blushes.  
  
"And if you get stuck on that side of the well, you really do need to know about natural childbirth." Kagome's mother whispers. "Mom?"  
  
"Yes, dear?"  
  
"How often have I told you that you're the best mother in the world?"  
  
Kagome's mother squeezes her daughter, tighter. "Thank you, Kagome. But that's only true when your daughter tells you the same thing. I'm supposed to teach you to be a good person and a good parent, so until you have your own children, how can we tell if I have taught you properly?"  
  
Kagome squeezes her mother.  
  
She sighs, "so, you want me to help Keade."  
  
"Of course, it is a favor and a good person is measured by the favors she does."  
  
"Trapped." Kagome whispers.  
  
Mrs. H's eyebrows raise, "Do you think something will go wrong?"  
  
Kagome shakes her head, no. "Not that, mom. It's just... the last couple of times, Keade has asked me to do something, things get weird."  
  
Mrs. H sighs, "life sometimes is weird, my dear. And I think you'll be a better person for helping."  
  
Kagome sighs, and nods. She pauses, "Should I read up on modern childbirth procedures?"  
  
Her mothers mouth twitches, "all they are going to say is that you are to take the mother to a hospital. And you can't do that, so why bother?"  
  
Kagome's mouth twitches, "Your right, I suppose. So, it'll be just like some of those movies where all you have is hot water and towels..."  
  
Mrs. H shrugs. "I was unconscious during yours and Sota's births. So, I'm not going to be to help you much."  
  
Kagome sighs as she thinks, 'well with Keade right there I don't suppose it'll get too bad.'  
  
She nods. "Ok. I'll go through the well and help."  
  
Later.... On Inu-yasha's side of the well. It is late in the afternoon.  
  
Keade and Kagome are walking to the house where the young woman Emi lives.  
  
"Remember, Kagome, I am visiting the house because Emi's mother has a stomachache, and you are visiting Emi, since you and her got along at the girls association meeting."  
  
"We've not going to announce that her birth in imminent?" Kagome asks. "I would have thought that is a joyous occasion."  
  
Keade shakes her head, no. "It is. But, too many things could go wrong, so, not to offend the gods and spirits, everyone pretends that nothing special is happening, until after the birth and all the proper rituals are done."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
Keade points to a small building, set off away from the others. "Tomorrow, we'll prepare that building for the birth. White curtains will be placed on all the openings and she'll enter the room. She'll stay in it, until after the birth."  
  
Kagome nods. She's seen that building dressed up before. The villagers use it as a special house for births and deaths. After each time the building is used, Keade has to perform various rituals around the house, spiritually cleaning it. (In addition to the real cleaning that is done. The building is normally the most spotless house in the village.)  
  
"What I going to be doing?" Kagome asks.  
  
"As my assistant? Nothing much. I'll give you a mantra for you to recite as we wait for the child birth. I just want you here to observe. If anything goes wrong, I'll take care of it." Keade replies.  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
Keade walks up the house and waits.  
  
A couple of minutes later Emi's Mother Akemi, an older and worn, woman in her mid-forties, slides open the door and invites them, loudly complaining about her upset stomach, to secret amusement of the neighbors, who know exactly why Keade and Kagome are there.  
  
"Kagome, why don't you visit Emi, why I examine Akemi here," Keade smiles, "we don't want to make her into a liar now, do we?"  
  
"Emi is in this room." Akemi states as she points to a sliding door. "Miko Kagome."  
  
Kagome nods, hiding a small grimace. She thinks, 'that is something I'll probably never get used to. Everyone in the village deferring to me, like I know what I'm doing, instead of just making things up as I go along.'  
  
Kagome opens the sliding door and enters the room. Emi, young nice looking young woman who is a couple of years older than Kagome, is sitting off in one corner, with a bowl of silkworm cocoons next to her. She is unraveling the silk threads from the cocoon. When Kagome enters, she starts to stand.  
  
Kagome waves her hands and cries, "no! You don't Emi. Don't stand. Just sit there." She orders as she quickly crosses the room and sits down beside Emi.  
  
Emi leans back down and places a hand over her huge stomach. A small smile appears on her lips. "Thank you, Lady Kagome. But, I really should stand up and bow to you."  
  
"Don't you dare." Kagome states in one of her hardest voices. "Not in your condition."  
  
Emi smiles and begins to unravel the cocoon again.  
  
Kagome clears her throat. "umm. Emi. I'm supposed to help, but." She starts to say. "How are you?" Kagome finally asks.  
  
"I feel very full, Lady Kagome. My back and my feet ache, but that is too be expected" Emi replies.  
  
"Just call me, Kagome, please." She requests. She pauses. "Emi, I supposed to help, but I've never done anything like this before so..." she says in a low voice.  
  
"Never? Surely you've helped you mother?"  
  
Kagome shakes her head. "No. they do things differently where I come from, so."  
  
Emi, "so you know nothing?"  
  
"Pretty much. Or rather, I know what will happen, but I've never seen it." Kagome pauses, she looks around, "you have a finance right?"  
  
Emi nods.  
  
"I would have thought he would be around?"  
  
"He wants to be, but his family doesn't want to appear too eager, so, until the child is born, he's having to sleep at his home, instead of with me." Emi sighs.  
  
"It'll be fine, Emi." Kagome smiles and takes one of Emi's hands in her hand and squeezes it. Her mouth twitches, "I hope I won't make any mistakes."  
  
"You won't." Keade says as she opens the door. Emi's mother is following her into the room.  
  
"Stand up, please, Emi." Keade says, "I need to feel you."  
  
Emi nods. She stands up and loosens her kimono. Keade stands next to her, slips her hands under the kimono and feels Emi's body.  
  
"Kagome, come here, please. Stand next to me." Keade orders, "I need to show you want to feel."  
  
Kagome blushes as she stands up and moves next to Keade. "Emi?"  
  
Emi's mouth twitches, "it's fine, Kagome. I expected something like this."  
  
Kagome swallows hard, and she reaches out. Keade takes her hands, places them under Emi's kimono and begins to move them over her body.  
  
Emi stands, basically unmoving, looking off in the distance as Keade uses her body to show Kagome how a pregnant woman's body is supposed to feel like.  
  
After a few minutes of low voiced mumbles as Keade talks to Kagome, they finish.  
  
Kagome is beet red as she moves away for Emi.  
  
"Sit down, Emi." Keade orders. "Your hips are wider than your mother's, child. Everything will go smoothly."  
  
With a huge sigh Emi sits down. Emi's mother, Keade and Kagome sit down as well.  
  
Keade looks at Emi's mother. "Yes, tomorrow."  
  
She nods. "Everything is ready."  
  
Noises outside the room attract everyone's attention.  
  
A small boy perhaps eight or nine runs into the room and flings himself at his mother, hugging her. He is crying.  
  
Kagome looks at Emi, raising an eyebrow. Emi mouths, "bullies."  
  
Kagome sighs.  
  
"They were picking on me again, mommie." The boy cries into his mother's chest.  
  
"Daichi?" she asks.  
  
He nods vigorously. Keade shakes her head. 'I'm going to have to mention this to his mother. Perhaps a word to Inu-yasha might be advisable? All the boy is doing is trying to emulate Inu-yasha.' Keade thinks. 'I'll mention it to Kagome and get her opinion.'  
  
'Daichi?' Kagome thinks, 'where have I heard that name before? Oh yes, one of the kids that is always interested in Inu-yasha. Hero worship, probably. Well, if that is the case, then something needs to be done. If Inu-yasha is going to be a role-model, he's going to have act like one.'  
  
Emi's mother opens her kimono and moves her sons head to her bared breasts. "Here, son. They may not be full like your sisters, but, they can still bring you comfort." She whispers.  
  
The boy begins to suck, noisily, on his mother's breasts.  
  
Kagome thinks, 'I thought I'd seen this before as I've walked through the village, but, I always thought I was seeing things. That boy is older than Shippo, and his mother still allows him to suckle on her breasts?'  
  
Kagome clears her throat, "forgive me, if I'm being unpolite, but, where I come from, babies are weaned at a young age." Her face is beet red by the time she finishes her question. "How old is common here?"  
  
The other women in the room smile. Emi's mother looks at Keade. Keade nods her head to her, an indication for Emi's mother to answer the question.  
  
"Lady Kagome." Emi's mother smiles. "As far as suckling for food goes, everyone starts mixing in thin gruel and the child begins to start to eat that at about a year after birth." She pauses, thinking, "I suppose most kids get some, if not most of their food from their mother's breasts for four years, perhaps."  
  
She pats her son's head. "But, this? This is just to calm him and to show him that I love and care for him." His suckling has already slowed down, and Kagome can see what is probably a smile on his face. "This. Girls stop needing this at about the time that their monthly bleeding starts. As for men . . . I really don't think men ever get weaned from sucking on breasts. If they are not suckling on their mother's breasts, then it's their wives." "Or sisters." Emi adds.  
  
"Sisters?" Kagome asks, luckily for her, her face is already beet red, so her additional embarrassment isn't visible.  
  
Emi frowns, "Yes. Sisters. You said you had a little brother, Kagome, didn't you suckle him?"  
  
Kagome slowing shakes her head no.  
  
"You come from a very odd place, Lady Kagome." Emi's mother remarks. Kagome nods.  
  
Akemi says, "it is customary for the older sisters and brothers to help their mother with their younger brothers and sisters. And once a girl becomes a young woman that does include letting their younger brothers or sisters suckle on them."  
  
Her mouth twitches, "they have to. I can't look after half a dozen kids, do the housework and work in the fields."  
  
"Didn't you want to help your mother?" Emi asks.  
  
"Of course!" Kagome replies. "When my little brother was born, I was very happy. A living doll that I could play with was my first thought. And I did help my mother with him." Kagome exclaims. "I normally helped her watch him and I changed a few diapers, but nothing like that." Kagome waves her hand to Emi's brother.  
  
Keade frowns, 'I wonder. From some of the things that Kagome has said in passing, the family in the future has changed, becoming, I think, weaker. I wonder...' she thinks. 'The bonds in the family are strengthened by everyone helping each other. Do families in the future help each other?'  
  
Emi smiles, "Your homeland must be a strange place, Lady Kagome. I've been helping my mother all my life. I've probably spent more time with my little brother than my mother."  
  
"Yeah. But the last time I asked about suckling on you, you said no. your breasts hurt." Hiroshi says as he lifts his head off his mother's breast.  
  
"And they did, Hiroshi. But, come over here, you scamp. They are full and if you have to suckle, you can empty them."  
  
The boy looks at his mother, who nods. He moves to his sister and begins to suckle her breasts. "Remember, Hiroshi, I will have a new child and he'll take priority in a few days. So, I'm not going to be able to do this." Emi in a stage whisper says to her younger brother.  
  
He sighs and nods.  
  
'There are times . . . ' Kagome thinks. 'When I just get comfortable here, and then something like this comes up and change things.'  
  
Keade clears her throat. "Kagome."  
  
"Yes, miko Keade?"  
  
"Akemi has problems in the past during childbirth." Keade begins. Akemi blushed and nods. "So, I would like you to stay the night."  
  
"Huh? Why don't you?" Kagome begins, she pauses, then says, "You don't want the neighbors to think anything bad is going to happen. And if you stayed the night, they might." "Whereas if you stayed the night, Lady Kagome, they'll just think that we're friends." Emi adds in. "And this." She pats her stomach, "is normal."  
  
"Will they?" Kagome asks.  
  
Akemi says, "it's a good excuse, lady Kagome and nobody will ask embarrassing questions."  
  
Kagome nods her head, "I'll stay."  
  
"Good." Keade says, "in that case, I'll be back tomorrow morning, Akemi, Emi."  
  
Everybody nods and gives Keade polite good byes.  
  
Keade starts to leave the house, but, Kagome catches up with her. "Can I talk to you in private, Lady Keade?"  
  
"Of course, lady Kagome. WE can talk, in low voices, just outside the house."  
  
Kagome nods. They leave the house and stand, facing each other in the dirt street in front of the house. Night has fallen while they were in the house.  
  
"Lady Kagome?" Keade begins, when she sees that Kagome is struggling trying to come up with an opening sentence.  
  
"Keade, why?" Kagome begins. "Why all this?" Kagome subtly waves her hands at the house and village. "I don't need to spend the night with her. You're only a huge shout away."  
  
Keade sighs, "Lady Kagome, do you agree that one should plan for the future?"  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"And it is my duty to make sure that there will be a Miko to look after this village when I am gone?"  
  
Kagome grimaces, but nods.  
  
Keade sighs, "I have not formally asked you, nor is this, that occasion, but, you are the best person in this village to replace me."  
  
Kagome bites her lips.  
  
Keade continues, "Before I can formally ask you to be my heir, though, I need to make sure about a few things." In a low voice, Kagome asks, "which are?"  
  
Keade sighs, "Some things I have no control over." She waves the necklace of shards around Kagome's neck. "How your quest ends, for example, and when it ends, whither or not the well works."  
  
"Yes . . . "  
  
"And, Lady Kagome, I do realize that you do desire to live on your side of the well. And if, when your quest is done, that is still your decision, I'll never ask you to become my heir. But, I must plan on what is best for the village."  
  
"And that is if I, myself, become your heir." Kagome whispers.  
  
Keade nods. "And, if that is this case, then you need to know more about the village and the people in it. So, I will, when time and opportunity arises, try to have you become more involved in the village."  
  
"So, my being here with Akemi and Emi?"  
  
"From your talks about your family, I've come to understand that things in the future are very different, so, spending time, with them, will help you understand what a family is now."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
Keade quickly adds, "And Akemi has had difficult births and Emi is afraid that she'll have them as well. So, your being there will calm her down and help her."  
  
"So, a little bit of practical experience and psychology thrown in." Kagome's mouth twitches.  
  
"Psychology?"  
  
Kagome blushes, "the study of the human mind and how it acts." Her mouth twitches, "what make's people do the things that they do."  
  
"Ahh. Good. Being Miko is more than just defeating monsters, it is getting along with and leading people, Lady Kagome, learning about this 'psychology' is a good thing."  
  
Kagome sighs.  
  
"If something goes wrong, I trust you to solve it, Kagome." Keade smiles as bows slightly to her.  
  
Kagome nods. "Ok. I'll see you in the morning then. Oh. I need to get my nightgown and futon." She starts to walk to Keade's hut.  
  
Keade moves in front of her and stops her. "No. Stay the night with them as you are."  
  
Kagome asks, "why?"  
  
Keade replies, "because this way, you'll be closer to them then if you sleep in your futon."  
  
Kagome shrugs, "ok. You basically want them to adopt me, tonight, don't you?"  
  
Keade smiles, "pretty much, lady Kagome. I do want you to get to know the families of the village more, and this is one way to do it."  
  
"What about Inu-yasha?" Kagome asks.  
  
"Don't worry about him." Keade replies, with a gleam in her eyes. "He'll understand."  
  
Kagome suppresses a giggle.  
  
Keade's mouth twitches. "Go back inside, Lady Kagome. And don't worry about him."  
  
Kagome shakes her head, "ok. I'll see you in the morning, then."  
  
Keade nods. "Yes, I'll see you in the morning."  
  
Kagome returns to the house.  
  
"Akemi?" She asks as she enters the dark house.  
  
Akemi appears with a small candle to light the way. "Follow me, Lady Kagome." Kagome follows her.  
  
A loud roar from Inu-yasha echoes throughout the village.  
  
Kagome cringes and rolls her eyes, 'Inu-yasha . . . what I am going to do with you?'  
  
Another roar starts, but is cut off mid-cry.  
  
Peace and quiet settle on the village . . .  
  
Akemi leads her to a large room. In the room, a couple of small oil lamps lite the room.  
  
In the room Akemi's family has gathered. They are spreading bedding out. They are: Ran Akemi's husband's mother, a very old woman. Minoru who is Akemi's husband, he is in his mid-fifties, and their children. Emi, Yuko a younger girl who is about twelve/thirteen. Hiroshi and Shiro a young son who is about six or seven.  
  
They all stop, turn to Kagome and bow to her.  
  
Kagome blushes red. "Please. I'm just Kagome, don't treat me special."  
  
"It's a warm night, so don't use much." Ran, the grandmother of the house, bosses everyone.  
  
The room is on the outer edge of the house. Since it is a warm night, the family removes the thin walls, and hangs mosquito nets. So, even when the small lamps are blown out, a soft light from the stars and partial moon, does give the room some light. And without the walls, a soft breeze flows through the room.  
  
Kagome whispers to Akemi as they spread out the quilts. "I thought that you said earlier that you had a half-a-dozen children?"  
  
"I have, but my oldest has already left the house, and I've had a couple of children die over the years."  
  
"Oh, sorry." Kagome apologies.  
  
Akemi waves her apology off, "compared to some of the other families in the village, we've fine, Lady Kagome. One of my friends has only one adult child out of six live births."  
  
"Oh."  
  
They spread out cotton quilts on the floor for bedding and some light cotton sheets to cover themselves. Everyone in the family begins to gather and they lay down onto the quilts. Since they are a peasant family, they don't have a lot of clothes, so. Minoru strips down to his underwear, but Hiroshi and Shiro strips naked. Ran, Akemi, Emi and Yuko strip down to a thin long cotton undershirt that they normally wear under their kimonos.  
  
Kagome bites her lips, "Akemi?" she points to her clothes.  
  
Akemi points to thin cotton kimono draped over a chest. "You can wear that, Lady Kagome."  
  
Kagome blushes, but drapes the thin kimono over her and then she takes off her modern clothes, while the thin kimono covers her from the gazes of the Minoru and the boys. She asks, "you are sure?"  
  
Emi pats the quilts next to her. "It's fine, Lady Kagome. We're honored that you're staying the night."  
  
Kagome's mouth twitches, 'forced you mean, but, I suppose it's ok.' She thinks.  
  
"Besides," Emi pats her enlarged stomach, "In case something happens tonight, I am very grateful that you are here."  
  
Kagome bends down and gets onto the quilts and crawls to Emi. She places her hands on Emi stomach. "It'll be all right, Emi." She smiles. Emi's stomach twitches and rolls under her hand.  
  
"He's active tonight." Shiro whispers as he sits next to his sister.  
  
Emi smiles, "you haven't seen this yet, have you, Shiro?"  
  
Shiro shakes his head, no. "Nope. I'm the baby of the family, remember."  
  
Akemi smiles. "Don't worry, Shiro, starting tomorrow, things will change and you'll be doing more around the house."  
  
Everyone crawls under the thin cotton sheets and begins to snuggle up to each other.  
  
Kagome softly clears her throat.  
  
"Sleep next to me." Emi whispers as she pats the ground next to her. "My finance would sleep there, so I'm used to it."  
  
"Ok" Kagome swallows and slips in beside Emi.  
  
Emi lies on her side, back to back to Kagome. Yuko curls up facing Kagome. Shiro curls up facing Emi.  
  
'Gods. They are all so trusting, and adjusting to my presence without a problem. And even though Akemi's husband hasn't said a word to me, I can tell that he is proud that I'm spending the night with his family.' Kagome thinks as she tries to find a comfortable place to sleep.  
  
Yuko, the younger daughter, snuggles up Kagome, sandwiching her between the two sisters. "When I grow up, I want to be a Miko." Yuko whispers into Kagome's ear.  
  
Kagome smiles, "I'll tell the Miko Keade." She whispers back.  
  
Yuko smiles, closes her eyes, goes to sleep. (She's had a hard day in the field, weeding.)  
  
After a few minutes' Kagome can sense most of the family has gone to sleep, which given the hard day in the fields that they all experience on a day in and day out basis, isn't surprising.  
  
Kagome thinks, 'I'm used to studying at night. They are used to going to sleep at sunset. The only ones that are still awake are Emi and Shiro. Emi, I can understand but Shiro?'  
  
Shiro is snuggled up next to his big sister Emi. After he twists and turns a couple of times, Emi whispers, "Shh, Shiro. I'll help you go to sleep."  
  
Shiro moves closer to his sister. And Emi reaches out with one arm over his groin. Kagome can feel Emi's arm move up and down.  
  
'Is she doing what I think she's doing?' Kagome thinks, her eyes wide. She turns, facing Emi's back.  
  
After a couple of minutes Shiro sighs, loudly and Emi's hand leaves his groin.  
  
He falls asleep a couple of minutes later.  
  
Emi, sighs, and slowly turns over to face Kagome. "I don't think I'm going be able to go to sleep tonight." She whispers. She rubs her stomach.  
  
"Worried about tomorrow?" Kagome whispers back.  
  
"Not really. I've helped my mom and my aunts enough that I know what's going to happen. I'm just very, very uncomfortable." Emi smiles faintly. "My mom never could sleep the night before childbirth either, I think."  
  
"Don't worry. Every thing will be fine."  
  
Emi sighs. "You knew I was lying, didn't you."  
  
Kagome reaches out and grabs her hands. "Keade told me that your mother had problems. I'll help, as much as I can."  
  
Emi sighs. "Thank you." She pauses. "My mom, even Yuko says that, but, hearing it from you, just feels better."  
  
"Trust your mother and sister."  
  
Emi sighs. "I do."  
  
Kagome clears her throat, "did you just do what I thought you did, with your brother?" she whispers.  
  
"Huh? Yes, of course. The boys sometimes need it to sleep. Sometimes Yuko or I need it, and Dad will help us." Emi replies, like it is the most normal thing in the world. "In a couple of years, it'll get messy. But, by then, I'll be out of the house and it'll be Mom and Yuko that'll have to clean up."  
  
"Oh . . . " Kagome softly whispers. "Everyone does it?"  
  
"Huh? Pretty much, I think. Don't you with your family?"  
  
"We each sleep in separate rooms, not together like this." "Ohh." Emi replies, still whispering. "Things are very different where you come from."  
  
"Yes. I've never done anything like that with my little brother."  
  
"Oh . . . " Emi pauses, "what do you do in the winter? It's soo cold everyone has to sleep together."  
  
"Everyone still sleeps in different rooms. The heaters are much better where I come from."  
  
"I'd like that." Emi says. "Sometimes, during the winter, the nights are soo long and you really can't do anything during the day. Father needs a lot of help before he falls asleep." She pauses, "in a couple of years, Yuko and Mother are going to be very busy during winter nights, once Hiroshi and Shiro grow up."  
  
Kagome takes a deep breath. "You mean?"  
  
"Sure." Emi replies. "I was fathers' favorite, until Yuko began her monthly cycles, now she is his favorite. Hiroshi is mothers' favorite."  
  
"Ohhh." Even in the semi-darkness the blush on Kagome's face is visible. "Sorry, I didn't mean. I mean, this . . . "  
  
"It's ok, Lady Kagome."  
  
A pause . . .  
  
Kagome's eyes narrow. "Keade. She came by and told you to tell me everything, didn't she?"  
  
Emi pauses. "Yes. A couple of days ago." She pauses. "Are you upset?"  
  
Kagome sighs. "It's not your fault, Emi. I am from a different place and Lady Keade is trying to teach me things. And she felt this was necessary."  
  
"Oh." Emi whispers. "And?"  
  
"And?"  
  
"And are you upset with Lady Keade? Please don't be." Emi begins to rapidly say, "She's the best Miko we've had in years and you are very well thought of. I don't want to be the cause of anything that would be a problem between you two."  
  
Kagome shakes her head, "No." She sighs. "I am not really upset at her. I just wish that she had given me more warning about this, though." Kagome pats Emi hand. "Don't worry, Emi. I might have some sharp words for her, but it'll be nothing serious."  
  
"Are you sure?" "Keade is being too secretive. She should have given me more warning about what to expect." Kagome sighs, "And she'll say that I learned more by being surprised. It's an argument that neither of us is going to win."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Try to get some sleep, Emi. I don't know much about childbirth, but you'll need it, tomorrow." Kagome whispers.  
  
Emi smiles, "I'll try, La . . . Kagome."  
  
Kagome smiles, "thank you, Emi."  
  
Emi closes her eyes, sighs and at least pretends to be asleep.  
  
Kagome closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep.  
  
Kagome thinks, 'things are so much different here. I've known that everyone on this side of the well sleeps together in the same room. Even we sleep together in the same room. I just thought that everyone slept separately like we do. But . . . now that I think about it.' Kagome pauses as she remembers days when the group has slept in regular houses. And in the morning when the madam of the house would wake them, she would, on occasion, look surprised at their sleeping arraignments.  
  
'Those surprised looks and vague remarks make more sense now.' Kagome mentally nods.  
  
'And . . . There has been times when I've been surprised at how strong the bond is between a mother and her son. And the strength of the bond between a father and his daughter. Now . . . Those bonds . . . '  
  
Kagome pauses, her eyes open wide and she stares up at the dark and shadowy ceiling. 'Sango . . . I've always known that she was very close to her brother and her father. But . . . I never considered this . . . '  
  
That thought and variations on it . . . keep Kagome awake . . .  
  
Time passes . . .  
  
It's still dark . . .  
  
Emi grabs Kagome arm. "Lady Kagome." She hisses.  
  
"What?" Kagome blinks. "The contractions are beginning." Emi declares.  
  
End part 1  
  
Author's note: This is a fictional story and I'm basing this on very limited info. The 2 sources given below are about it. So... I could easily be mistaken.  
  
Authors' note: In many Japanese stories, both factual and fictional, the bond between a son and his mother or a daughter and her father . . . are very, very strong. Stronger, in some cases, than the bond between a wife and husband. Exactly why those bonds are so strong is never really explained . . .  
  
Some of the scenes above are based on my reading of the book: Pink Samurai by Nicholas Bornoff  
  
Some of the scenes above are based on my reading of the article: The Universality of Incest by Lloyd DeMause  
  
Change the (!) to (/) Periods to use the link if you wish to read the article.  
  
psychohistory.com!htm!06a1incest.html  
  
thank you for reading jeff shelton 


	2. the birth

Motherhood: part 2  
  
Authors' note: I am a male writer. So . . . I am going to cheat and NOT do into massive detail about women's feelings during childbirth. I will be trying to describe the differences between modern and feudal childbirths, so, if I miss anything, the feelings are the same. And if I get the sequence of events during childbirth wrong, please forgive me. I am only a stupid, idiotic man . . .  
  
Some of the events described are NOT recommended. OK. They are what was done in the past, do not follow them.

* * *

Emi grabs Kagome arm. "Lady Kagome." She hisses.  
  
"What?" Kagome blinks.  
  
"The contractions are beginning." Emi declares.  
  
"What should I do?" Kagome whispers in a panic.  
  
Emi smiles, "You really do not know, do you?"  
  
Kagome, rather violently, shakes her head.  
  
"I'll be fine. Wake up my mother, if you could, please?"  
  
Akemi leans up, "I'm awake, Emi. It's time?"  
  
"I just had my first contraction, mother."  
  
Akemi looks outside. "I'd say that we still have an hour before sunrise, Emi. Plenty of time. Kagome, could you please assist her to stand. I always found it better if I was pacing around during this time."  
  
Kagome, with grunts from her and Emi, helps Emi stands up.  
  
Everyone else in the family wakes up during this, and they whisper among themselves.  
  
"Shh. Everyone." Akemi declares. "Everything is fine. Emi is just starting a bit sooner than we had thought. Once daylight arrives, Yuko and I will start preparing the birth room. Husband, you'll have to look after the boys today." Minoru nods. "I'll keep them busy and out of the way." He says in his gravely voice.  
  
Shiro asks, "and now, mom?"  
  
"Now we wait until sunrise. Kagome and Yuko can help Emi walk around until then."  
  
Yuko goes over and walks with Emi and Kagome.  
  
The three young women whisper and talk among themselves. Emi, tries as best she can, to explain to her younger sister and Kagome what she is feeling, but sometimes . . . the only answer is 'I can't explain it, you've got to feel it to understand it . . . '  
  
Time passes and the sun rise . . .  
  
As soon as the sun rises, Akemi and Yuko leave the house. "Just stay here with Emi, Miko Kagome. Once we get the house ready, Yuko will come and summon you." Akemi orders, as she leaves the room.  
  
The men and boys leave the house on errands of their own. Ran, remains in the house, sitting down, and watching the two young women.  
  
"Kagome." Emi says,  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Could you pull out that chest, and get the white kimono and the gray kimono in it?" Emi points to a low chest against the wall.  
  
"Ok. Anything special about these?" Kagome asks as she opens the chest and removes the clothes.  
  
"I'll wear the grey kimono over the white one, on my way to the house. Once I get inside, I'll take the grey kimono off."  
  
"Hiding the white kimono from the village." Kagome remarks.  
  
Emi nods, "Yes, I've got to hide this." She pats her stomach. "Until after the childbirth."  
  
After Emi is dressed, they wait pacing with Emi grimacing on occasion from the contractions.  
  
Yuko returns soon after she leaves. "Everything is ready."  
  
Yuko leads Emi and Kagome to the small building. All the doorways and windows are now covered in white paper curtains.  
  
As they enter the building, the floor is like new, with clean white tatami pads, lined with white paper. There are a couple of wooden tubs, which will be keep filled with hot water. Yuko will be taking one out and refilling it with new water several times before her sister gives birth. A stack of white paper and a couple of white towels are next to the tubs. Other miscellaneous items and bowls line one wall.  
  
The room is lined with white paper. Inside are Akemi, Keade and a couple of older women from the village. The room is big enough that they can all fit in and still move about comfortably.  
  
Keade is dressed in her formal Miko clothes. She has a set of traditional miko clothes draped over her arm. "Here, Miko Kagome. Change into these, please?" She brushes aside some hanging white paper, showing another, smaller, room.  
  
Kagome nods, goes into the room and changes.  
  
She returns to the room, wearing the new clothes.  
  
"Kagome." Keade says as she hands her a piece of paper. "You'll have to recite this prayer, as you rub this rosary." She hands Kagome a rosary, it is similar to the one the Miroku has. "Half of the prayer is to protect the child and mother from evil demons and spirits. The other half is to attract good spirits to protect the child and mother."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"If you could, please, just squat over here, as you recite the prayer." Keade points to place in a wall and away from Emi and the other women in the room.  
  
"Is this all, Miko Keade?" Kagome asks.  
  
"For now, Miko Kagome. Once the labor progresses more, I'll stop you and show you things on occasion."  
  
Kagome nods, takes both items and, after reading through the prayer once, starts to slowly and quietly recite it.  
  
Soon after starting, she hears sounds of similar prays outside the hut. She pauses, "Miroku?" she asks Keade.  
  
"Yes, he is outside, also praying and protecting the hut from evil spirits and attracting good spirits."  
  
Outside the hut . . .  
  
Miroku is seated on the porch of the house. On his lap is a small table. It is covered in by white paper, hanging from the edges of the table is seven white strips of paper. Written on them are various mystical symbols to protect and help the childbirth.  
  
Standing near him, is Emi's finance. An older man in his late thirties named Katsu. He is wearing a loosely tied white kimono, beneath it, his normal clothes are visible. In his hands is a bow. He is plucking the bowstring, in time with Miroku's chanting.  
  
In one of the trees, near the edge of the village, Inu-yasha grumbles.  
  
'Idiots.' Inu-yasha thinks. 'That shit is supposed to drive off demons, but it doesn't work. Well, Miroku is, but that is due to his power, but the idiot with the bow is useless. And that damned high pitch of that bowstring is driving me nuts. So, I'm going to stop him'  
  
Inu-yasha jumps off the tree and saunters up to the birthing building.  
  
A lot of heads pop out of the nearby houses, and more heads turn in the fields, watching him.  
  
He smiles, 'I'll show these peasants that plucking a bow string isn't going to drive me off.'  
  
As he walks up to the house, Katsu shifts positions and points the bow toward Inu-yasha, trying to drive him off.  
  
Miroku begins to speed up his chanting. 'I'd like to stop now, and give him a piece of my mind, but if I stop this chant midway through, evil spirits might get inside.' He thinks.  
  
Sango, her giant boomerang on her back, quickly runs up behind Inu-yasha, grabs him in a headlock and with one hand, violently and painfully, twisting his ear, drags him away.  
  
'Sango.' Miroku smiles, 'now, I don't have to yell at him, she'll do it.' He thinks.  
  
"Let go! You bitch!" Inu-yasha yells, from under her arm. "I don't want to hurt girls, but if you don't let go, I hurt you!" he is trying to escape, but every time he comes close, Sango twists his ear again, causing another yelp of pain.  
  
"Shut up, you idiot!" Sango hisses at him, as she drags him out of the village and into the woods. She keeps one hand on his ear, still twisting it. Her other hand grabs his shirt. She lifts him up and throws him into a tree. As he bounces off the tree, Sango charges him, with her boomerang in front. She slams him back into the tree, trapping him against it with her weapon.  
  
Inu-yasha lifts his head, his mouth opens, 'I'm going to give her a piece of my mind . . . ' he thinks. But, no sound emerges from his mouth. He shuts his mouth with a snap.  
  
Sango is glaring at him. The razor sharp edge of her boomerang is against his neck. Blood trickles down Inu-yasha's chest. One move and Sango will take his head off.  
  
'The only times I've seen her this mad . . . is when her brother is involved.' Inu-yasha thinks as he swallows.  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Sango growls in a low, but a very ugly, tone. "You just had to do that, didn't you! Kagome has a life that is separate from you and you hate that, don't you?"  
  
"Sango!" Inu-yasha squeaks out. "You're wrong! Let me go, bitch!"  
  
"No!" Sango barks at him, shoving him further into the tree. The tree cracks from the force being applied against it. "Listen to me you stupid man. There is a woman in that hut, and she's going through the best or the worse day of her life and you were going to interrupt that, for absolutely no good reason."  
  
"That damned bowstring was irritating my ears."  
  
"Then go into the forest, you idiot! Whenever there is birth or a death in the village, I always send Shippo and Kirara into the woods. The villagers know that they are demons and having a demon in the village during those times is hard on them. They get afraid! And I'm not going to make them more afraid, Inu-yasha!" she growls out.  
  
After a deep breath, she continues, "By walking up to that man, you have caused problems, Inu-yasha. IF you could walk up, what about other demons? He might think that his newborn child was possessed. Or someone in the village will think that. And what about other children?"  
  
She snarls, unshed tears in her eyes. "So, because of your stupidity, that child will probably be killed, all it has to do is fart the wrong way once. Because either the father or the village will believe that a demon has possessed the child."  
  
The blood trickling down Inu-yasha chest grows thicker. He swallows.  
  
"You, Inu-yasha, are going to go back with me, and you are going to put on an act, in front of the village, pretending that the bowstring is hurting you and it will drive you off." She orders. "Maybe, just maybe, that child will be able to grow up, normally."  
  
She releases him, and backs up a couple of steps. "Listen to me, Inu-yasha! You might think that battles and fights are wonderful things, but you know nothing." She berates him. "If you get lucky and win a battle, you get to come home and live."  
  
Sango waves her hand in the direction of the hut, "In that hut, a woman is in a battle! Sometimes she fails and dies, but. But, Inu-yasha, when she wins, she brings home a new life."  
  
She stares at him. "And nothing we warriors do is as great as that." She waves her boomerang in his face. "I've destroyed more life than I care to think about, Inu-yasha. Destroying is easy. Creating, giving birth, that is hard. That woman in that hut is better than you, she is better than I."  
  
Her eyes, diamond hard in her anger bores into his, "and if you disagree with me, I'll . . . " A horrible smile appears on her lips, "I'll remove your nuts." Her boomerang swings in that direction.  
  
Inu-yasha pales, his hands automatically cover himself.  
  
"Sango." He starts to say.  
  
"Forget it, Inu-yasha." She interrupts, "Just go to the god tree and sulk. That what's you're good at, anyway. You couldn't act to save your life, and I'm not going to trust you to save that child's life." She looks around, "I'll find Kirara or Shippo, even Myouga will do. And we'll save that child's life."  
  
She spins around, ignoring Inu-yasha as she yells, "Kirara! Shippo! Come here, I need you!"  
  
Inu-yasha rubs his neck, feeling his neck heal. He swallows. 'She really wants to have a child . . . ' he thinks. 'What do I do?'  
  
"Sango?" Shippo calls as he appears next to her. "Why are you yelling?"  
  
"Inu-yasha screwed up. He approached the birthing hut, right in view of everyone." Sango growls out. Her anger is still very obvious.  
  
"Idiot." Shippo whispers. "Doesn't he understand, that the villagers just barely accept us at the best of times and during births and deaths we have to watch our step. There are so many ways for demons to interfere during those times and the villagers are so superstitious."  
  
"You know he hated it last night when Keade told him what was going to happen. Kagome was doing something without him." Sango says.  
  
"And he hates that."  
  
Sango nods. "We're going to have to fix it, Shippo. You're going to have to change into Inu-yasha. Walk up to the father and then, as he plucks his bowstring, you're going to act like it's hurting you."  
  
Shippo purses his lips and nods. "I thought I saw some red berries, over there." He waves off to his right. "I can use them and fake some blood."  
  
"Good."  
  
Shippo looks up at Sango, "I can't get to close to hut, though."  
  
"Miroku." Sango grins.  
  
Shippo shakes his head, no. "Not him. It's the baby. I can feel its soul and I can feel how easy it is for me to possess him. I am a kitsune, remember, and possessing humans is something we do. A young human soul is just soo loosely attached to the body, evens a young Kitsune like me can possess a baby."  
  
"And Miroku, Kagome and Keade?"  
  
"I know them and they know me. That friendship means I can avoid their spells." Shippo's mouth twitches, "If the village midwife, and say, the girl's mother was reciting that protection mantra, I couldn't do it."  
  
"But, since it's our friends." Sango begins. Shippo nods.  
  
"I can possess the baby, but any other demon that tries to possess that child would be destroyed."  
  
Sango sighs, "Ok. Get as close as you can, but be careful."  
  
Shippo nods. "Ok. I'll do it. Let me find those berries and I'll be there."  
  
Sango nods. "Thank you, Shippo." She bows to him. "With a little luck, we'll save that child's life."  
  
Shippo nods and he scampers off looking for those berries.  
  
Yuko enters the hut, carrying a tray with some snacks and water. She is pale.  
  
"What happened outside, Yuko?" Keade asks.  
  
Yuko, glances at Kagome, then answers, "inu-yasha approached the hut, but the demon exterminator dragged him off, Miko Keade."  
  
Keade purses her lips, 'idiot. Saving this child's life, will be a challenge.' She thinks. She nods at Yuko, "thank you, child."  
  
Emi swallows and pales, "Miko Keade?"  
  
"It'll be all right, Emi. I thought that something like that would happen. The mantra that Miko Kagome is reciting will protect your child, even against inu-yasha."  
  
Emi smiles, and sighs in relief. The other women in the room do the same.  
  
Kagome, barely, doesn't miss a word, but her eyebrows raise a question to Keade.  
  
Keade mouths back, "later." To her.  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
Emi grimaces through another contraction.  
  
Akemi asks, "Do you need this?" She holds up a short hardwood stick. Bite marks are visible on it.  
  
Emi shakes her head, "not yet, mother. I can stand it."  
  
Keade, seeing puzzlement in Kagome's eyes, mentions, "yes, Emi, please tell us when you need to bite down on it. IF you scream or cry out during labor that is bad luck. And, it causes concern with the father and the family outside the hut, they'll think that something bad is happening inside."  
  
Emi, also glancing at Kagome, puts a wan smile on her face, "and, if I scream, I'll be embarrassed and lose face. No, other woman has screamed."  
  
"Oh." Kagome mumbles. She nods her head in thanks.  
  
"Kagome." Keade asks, "come here. Emi, please squat and spread your legs."  
  
Emi squats, opening her kimono. Keade, with Kagome squeezed in next to her, begins a low voice, but detailed, description of what normally happens, using Emi's body as a guide.  
  
After a few minutes, Keade, looks up at Emi and smiles, "you're doing fine, child. Just like I told you." She pauses, glancing at the two older women in the room. "It's time for her to stay in this position."  
  
Kagome asks, "Stay in this position?"  
  
Keade replies, quickly and as if she was stating something very obvious, "Oh, yes, Emi, like all women, will give birth while she is squatting. It helps the child come out. Her two aunts will support her."  
  
Keade smiles, "I've heard of special chairs being built to help support a mother as she squats, but I've never seen one."  
  
Kagome whispers, "oh . . . "  
  
They nod and move next to Emi. They grab her by the shoulders and support her.  
  
Emi smiles, "Thank you, aunts of mine. I'm grateful for your support."  
  
"Dear, we are here for you." One of them replies.  
  
"Everyone is here to help you." The other says.  
  
Emi smiles.  
  
Keade motions for Kagome to stand up. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes, child." They both go into the small door behind the white paper.  
  
"Well, my dear, any questions or comments?" Keade asks.  
  
Kagome swallows, blushes, and begins to ask questions on the explanation that Keade just gave her.  
  
After a few minutes . . .  
  
"Do you understand everything now?" Keade asks.  
  
Kagome nods. "It seems so simple, though, lady Keade."  
  
"A mother's body knows what to do. A midwife, her mother, and all the rest of us, are just there to help her. She needs to know that people are there for her and will help her."  
  
Kagome nods, and whispers, "and if something goes wrong?"  
  
Keade sighs, and whispers back, "then, I will probably lose the baby and the mother. There is so much blood and the bleeding takes place inside the mother, where I cannot sew up it, like I can a sword blow."  
  
Kagome grimaces, "healing spell?"  
  
Keade shakes her head, "those spells work best on people with magic, Kagome." She pauses, thinking, "there is magic inside the body to the help the spell. But for most of the villagers, they have so little magic in them, you or I have to supply even more power to the spell."  
  
"So, casting a healing spell on them, is harder."  
  
"And less likely to work in the first place." Keade interrupts. "It's like a soft clay pot, while it's soft, you can change it. Those are people with magic. But, once the clay has hardened, it becomes harder to change the pot. Those are people without magic."  
  
Kagome nods in understanding.  
  
Keade reaches out and grabs Kagome shoulder in a reassuring gesture, "Don't worry about this one, Kagome. Emi is young and strong. And her hips are bigger than her mothers. It'll be an easy birth."  
  
Keade grimaces, "Now, her little sister, on the other hand, has very small hips for her age." Keade sighs. "Unless she starts growing, soon, I'm probably going to have to tell her, that she'll never have any children."  
  
Kagome grimaces. "That's will not be a pleasant conversation."  
  
"No. But, there is still time, so don't mention that to her."  
  
"I won't." Kagome replies. She pauses, "AH, Miko Keade. Could you explain what happened with Inu-yasha and why you are upset?"  
  
Keade sighs, and explains the problem about demons even approaching the birthing hut.  
  
'Stupid, idiotic inu-yasha.' Kagome thinks, 'when I find him . . . I'm going to keep sitting him until he begs me to stop!' she angrily thinks.  
  
As Keade is finishing her explanation, Akemi sticks her head into the small room.  
  
"Her water just broke, Miko Keade."  
  
Keade and Kagome stop talking and re-enter the birthing room.  
  
Outside the hut . . .  
  
Sango slowly makes her way to the birthing hut.  
  
Whispers follow her. Fingers point to the line of red blood on the edge of her boomerang.  
  
She walks up to Miroku and the Katsu, the father of the child. She whispers, "Everything will be fine." She pats her boomerang. "Inu-yasha and I had a conversation."  
  
Miroku smiles. "So I see." His eyes follow the edge of the boomerang.  
  
Sango turns to Katsu, she whispers, "In a few minutes, Inu-yasha will approach the hut again, use the bow to stop him."  
  
HE whispers back, "But it didn't stop him the first time."  
  
"IT will this time. The Miko Kagome had given him a special amulet. I removed it. Your child is safe and will grow up normally, sir."  
  
"You're sure?" Katsu asks as he eyes go from Sango to Miroku, looking for support.  
  
Miroku, in a very confident voice, "Of course we are sure, sir. Everything will be fine. I knew about that amulet and I was going to remove it, myself, but the demon exterminator here." He pats Sango on her ass. "Did it first."  
  
Sango spins and growls at him. "Now is not the time for that. You perverted Monk." She raises her boomerang to hit him, but looks at the hut. "And this is not the place to hit you." She hisses.  
  
Miroku using his eyes and subtle head movements, gets her to pay attention to Katsu.  
  
He has moved away from them and is whispering to his sons and the rest of the extended family.  
  
Miroku whispers to Sango, "once I started groping you, he knew that everything is back to normal. By groping you, I helped him overcome any remaining doubts about your story."  
  
Sango glances at Katsu, glances at Miroku. "Men." She growls as she backs away from the hut and Miroku. "Later, pervert." She growls at him.  
  
Miroku smiles, "Lady Sango, I will gladly make time to be alone with you later." He says in a normal tone, so everyone can hear him.  
  
Sango purples. "You perverted Monk. I didn't mean that." She bristles in anger and stalks off. "That earned you something extra!" She threatens as she leaves.  
  
"I always look forward to your 'something extra'" Miroku replies, smiling at Katsu, who is returning to the hut.  
  
Katsu looks at Miroku and the rapidly retreating Sango. He whispers, "she must be a wildcat between the pillows."  
  
"Yes, she is." Miroku replies, with a smile he stole off a statue of Buddha, on his lips.  
  
A couple of minutes pass . . .  
  
Inu-yasha becomes visible from the birthing hut as he slowly walks toward it.  
  
Heads appear in windows watching him and the hut.  
  
Katsu licks his lips, and glances at Miroku.  
  
Miroku, who is at a stopping point in the mantra, smiles back and he whispers. "Point it and pluck the string."  
  
Katsu takes a deep breath, points the bow at Inu-yasha and pulls back the string, plucking the bow.  
  
Inu-yasha staggers in the street. He slaps a hand to his side and red blood appears.  
  
Whispers buzz through the village.  
  
Katsu, now with a smile on his lips, plucks the bow again.  
  
Inu-yasha staggers again, slapping a hand on his stomach and when he removes it, red blood appears.  
  
Katsu takes a step away from the hut, as he pulls the string back again.  
  
Miroku hisses, "Stay at the hut."  
  
He nods. Steps back to the hut, and releases the bowstring. Inu-yasha slaps his chest, blood spurting.  
  
He falls to the ground and begins to crawl away from the birthing hut.  
  
As he vanishes into the woods, soft clapping is heard from the huts in the village.  
  
Katsu, straightens up, smiles and bows to the village.  
  
"Don't get to cocky, Katsu." Miroku whispers, "knowing Inu-yasha, I'd say in a couple of days, you'll go into the woods on an errand and you will have an 'accident'. You know what I mean?"  
  
Katsu sighs, "yes. But its worth it."  
  
Miroku nods.  
  
Yuko releases the piece of white paper that she moved aside, so that she could see outside. She smiles and tells everyone in the group what happened outside.  
  
'Hmmm . . . I wonder what he'll have to say for himself?' Kagome thinks after she hears Yuko.  
  
Sango smiles as she sees the bleeding Inu-yasha crawl into the woods. "I knew that Shippo could do it." She whispers.  
  
"That isn't me." Shippo says as he appears next to her. A huge bump is on his head. "He ambushed me and knocked me out."  
  
Sango glances at Shippo and then at Inu-yasha as he vanishes in the woods. "I didn't know he was that good an actor? And the red blood, how did he do that?"  
  
"I can smell it, Sango. That is his blood you're seeing."  
  
"You mean when he was slapping himself. He was using his claws to cut himself?"  
  
Shippo nods. "Yes."  
  
Sango whispers, "I think I owe him an apology."  
  
later . . .  
  
Back inside the birthing hut . . .  
  
Emi has stripped off her kimono. She is covered in sweat. She didn't want her sweat to darken the white kimono. She is still squatting and her two aunts are still supporting her. Her mother is standing behind her, in her hands is a towel. She is wiping off the sweat as she whispers, "you can do it." In her ears. Yuko is standing off to one side, wet towels in her hands, just in case. She is also, in a stage whisper, saying supportive things to her sister.  
  
Emi is grimacing. In her mouth is the hardwood stick, blood trickles down one side of his mouth, from where she accidently bit her tongue earlier.  
  
Beneath her is a stack of white paper and towels. Next to one leg a basin with hot water. Next to the other is a small crib, prepared for the child.  
  
Keade is bent down between Emi's legs, her hands at Emi's groin as she feels inside her.  
  
Kagome, is standing over Keade, looking on.  
  
"He has hair on his head, Emi." Keade remarks.  
  
"Push." She hisses at Emi.  
  
Emi grunts . . .  
  
Kagome draws in a breath. She can see the top of the baby's head appear.  
  
"Once more." Keade hisses. One hand rotates the baby, helping it. The other hand has a blood-streaked towel, cleaning her so Keade can see.  
  
Emi grunts . . .  
  
The shoulders of the baby appear and the rest of the child slides out of the mother quickly and smoothly into Keade's waiting hands.  
  
Emi sighs in exhaustion, the hardwood stick slipping out of her mouth, and falling into her lap, as she relaxes.  
  
Keade picks up a new, fresh bamboo knife and cuts the umbilical cord.  
  
The baby begins to cry, in a high pitch squeal.  
  
'So small.' Kagome thinks as she looks at him. 'His skin changed color when he first appeared. Plus . . . his genitals . . . they are bulging out.' She blushes.  
  
The noises of Katsu, Miroku and the rest of the family talking outside can are heard in the hut.  
  
"Akemi." Keade asks, "Do you wish to do the honor?"  
  
"Of course, Miko Keade." Akemi  
  
Akemi quickly moves around, Kagome moves aside in a ballet movement that is perfect, even if they've never practiced it. Kagome moves behind Emi and grips her shoulder in a supporting gesture.  
  
Akemi takes some of the white paper and cleans off the new baby boy as he squeals.  
  
She hands her grandson to her daughter. "He's perfect, my dear. Ten fingers, ten toes, and hung like a horse."  
  
Emi smiles as she softly cradles her son in her arms. To stop his cries she places her pinky in his mouth for him to suckle. She grimaces.  
  
"Sorry, child. You're not finished yet." Keade says. "The afterbirth comes next. So, as much as you want to move around, don't." A pause. "Kagome, come back over her, so you can see. This is important. And grab that bowl." She points to a bowl next to the wall.  
  
Kagome moves back behind Keade, hands her the bowl and watches.  
  
The next few minutes aren't pretty, but Emi slowly expels the placenta and the rest of the afterbirth.  
  
Keade places it in the bowl, and she also places the bamboo knife in the bowl. She glances at Kagome. She reaches up to her with the bowl. "Place this in the other room, please, miko Kagome. Once we clean up here we'll take all the soiled paper and towels and this with us. We'll then burn them all in a sacred fire, purify it and removing any possibility of a demon attacking the mother or child through it."  
  
Kagome nods, accepts the bowl. She takes the bowl and comes back in seconds.  
  
"Emi." Keade orders. "You can relax now and lay down." She points to clean area of the room, where there is a pile of pillows. Emi gratefully waddles over and lays down, her back supported by the pillows, her son still cradled in her arms. Her pinky is still in his mouth.  
  
"Yuko." Keade orders. She points to a strip of white paper, with mystical symbols written on it, also attached to the paper is a willow sprig for more mystical power. "Place that on the outside of the door, please. It will tell the village that it is taboo to enter and the sprig will protect the house against bad luck."  
  
Yuko smiles, opens the door for a second and returns quickly.  
  
"Now we clean up the room."  
  
Kagome looks around, she frowns, "Emi?"  
  
"Yes, Miko Kagome?"  
  
"Aren't you going to feed him?" Kagome noticed that Emi's pinky is still in the baby's mouth and that she has not brought him to her breasts.  
  
"No." Emi says sharply. She looks around.  
  
Keade clears her throat. "Miko Kagome, I know that where you come from, they handle childbirth differently, but here it is considered wrong to feed a baby the first two days it is out of the womb."  
  
Kagome looks at Keade, Emi, Akemi and the rest of the women in the room. They are all nodding agreeing with Keade.  
  
Kagome licks her lips. "Miko Keade, may I speak with you in private?" She points to the other room.  
  
Keade nods. They both enter the room.  
  
"You have a problem with that, child?" Keade asks.  
  
Kagome purses her lips, takes a deep breath and bluntly says, "Yes, I do."  
  
Keade nods. "Miko Kagome, you do know that this village requires everyone in it to be productive. Children, soon after they start walking, learn how to weed. Older villagers, if they can't work in the fields anymore, will do work around the houses."  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes, I know that, but, I don't see how letting that baby starve . . . " her voice rises as she speaks.  
  
"I'm not finished, Miko Kagome." Keade interrupts. Kagome stops speaking, but anger flares in her eyes. "We cannot support a weak child. By not feeding the child, only the strong lives." Kagome grits her teeth in anger. "You don't mean that, Keade." She spits out.  
  
Keade nods. "I do not like it any more than you do, Miko Kagome, but."  
  
"But, nothing, Keade." Kagome glares at her. "I liked this, up until now. Now . . . "  
  
Keade reaches out with one hand and covers Kagome's mouth. She bends over as whispers into Kagome's ear. "My dear, if I left you alone with your newborn baby, would you feed it?"  
  
Kagome nods vigorously, since Keade's hand is preventing her from speaking.  
  
Keade nods. "In a few minutes, we will be leaving the hut, everyone but Emi and the child. They will stay in here for three days. And while I, Akemi and Yuko will be going in and out of the hut on a regular basis. Emi will need food, water, and we will need to change the chamber pot every so often. Emi will be left alone with her child."  
  
Keade releases Kagome's mouth. Kagome whispers, "you mean?"  
  
"Officially, Emi will be stopping her son from crying by using her pinky. But, unofficially, I'm not going to ask her what she did when I was away."  
  
Kagome sighs. "Thank you. So?"  
  
Keade smiles, "So, the longer you argue with me, the longer it'll be before Emi feeds her son." Keade whispers.  
  
Kagome nods. They reenter the main room.  
  
Nobody has moved while they were gone.  
  
Kagome bows to Emi. "I am sorry, if I offended you or anyone in this room, Emi. Please forgive my ignorance. I come from a different place."  
  
Emi nods back to Kagome. "Your apology is accepted. You are trying to help."  
  
Akemi looks around, "Let's finishing cleaning up. It has to be noon already and I'm sure Emi would like me to bring her back something to eat?" She smiles.  
  
Emi smiles, "yes, mother, I would. If you could, my favorite, please?"  
  
"Of course, dear." Akemi smiles.  
  
After a few minutes they all leave the hut.  
  
Akemi tells Katsu, Emi's fiancee, and the rest of the family about the successful birth. But, only the family is told, none of the neighbors.  
  
Kagome, carrying the bowl with the afterbirth and Keade, carrying an armful of dirty paper and towels walk toward the Shinto shrine where the sacred flame burns.  
  
"What will happen next?" Kagome asks.  
  
"After three days." Keade answers, "the child will be given its first bath and they'll name it. There is a short ceremony, which I'll be needed for, and he'll be allowed to suckle on his mother's breast, officially. And the neighbors will finally, officially, be told of the birth. "  
  
"Good." Kagome giggles a bit at the thought that the neighbors don't know exactly what has happened.  
  
"He'll be given his first clothes then, as well. Since he has a good sized head of hair on him, already, I'll probably also take a clipping and burying it next to the shrine. This is so that the god of the shrine will get to know the new person in the village."  
  
"Ah." Kagome nods. "I've wondered on occasion why that area looks freshly dug."  
  
"When you don't know something, you need to ask more questions, my dear."  
  
"Maybe." Kagome replies, "next?"  
  
"After about a month, the family will take the child to the shrine. I'll then perform another small ceremony introducing the baby to the god of the shrine. This is when the child officially becomes part of the village." Keade smiles. "Now, I'm not going to officially add the child to the tax roll until it's second birthday."  
  
She pauses, then continues, "once other person can handle the child, life becomes easier for Emi. Because, that, is when the first time someone besides her can carry and feed the child."  
  
Kagome whistles. "You mean the first month, Emi's the only person to handle the baby?"  
  
Keade nods. "Oh, in the privacy of the hut, I'm sure that Akemi or Yuko will help out, but in public, Emi is the only one to handle the child."  
  
"And this takes about a month?"  
  
"The actual number of days varies a bit. The family will want to visit the shrine on a day, that the horoscope says is lucky."  
  
"Anything after that?"  
  
"On the care of newborns?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"About one hundred and twenty days after birth, the child will be given its first solid food. But, as Akemi said last night, it'll be years before the child finally stops feeding off its mother's breast. Most women in the village have a new child and it is feeding that child which stops the first child from feeding."  
  
"And the mother is always carrying the child, right?" Kagome remarks, "I've seen that in the fields, a lot."  
  
Keade nods. "Yes. The mother is supposed to carry the child at all times. However, most families do tend to share that responsibility. I'm sure that Yuko will volunteer to look after the child often, and Katsu has a couple of younger sisters, they'll probably spoil the child as well."  
  
Keade grins, "I suppose most children are never more than an arm's length away from their mother, or the woman looking after them, until they are old enough to run and play with other children. And even when they start playing, they are always within eyesight or hearing range of their parents or family."  
  
"The father?"  
  
"Most will help." Keade quickly replies. "Perhaps not in public, but in the privacy of the home, they'll help."  
  
"Hmmm . . . I know that Emi was waiting for the child to be born before her and Katsu get married. You have any idea when that will be?" Kagome asks.  
  
"Hmmm. I believe their plan was to wait and see if the child survives a year out of the womb, and if he's still alive and healthy after a year, they'll marry then."  
  
Kagome nods. "Anything else?"  
  
Keade pauses, "Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Today is that child's first birthday."  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes, we don't follow that custom in the future, but I've read enough books to know it." She smiles, "the ages in a lot of the history books can vary. Some scholars remember that, some don't."  
  
Kagome frowns, "Miko Keade, from reading those books, they also say that many children died young and many women died during childbirth."  
  
Keade nods. "Yes, Emi's birth was an easy one, Kagome."  
  
"How often does that happen?"  
  
Keade smiles, "oh, most births are like that. Four out of five, at least, are easy, perhaps not that easy, but both mother and children live." Keade sighs, "But when something goes wrong."  
  
"You lose people." Kagome finishes for her.  
  
Keade nods. "If you listen to most of the men, especially warriors, you get the impression that combat is risky."  
  
Kagome nods, faintly smiling as she remembers some of the stories, Inu- yasha has bragged about.  
  
"A woman might enter that hut ten times in her life." Keade remarks.  
  
"You just said four out of five where easy, so she will have two hard births?" Kagome asks.  
  
Keade shakes her head. "I didn't finish, Kagome. Surviving the first one is the challenge, once a woman does that, it becomes, oh, not easy, but easier. Most of the difficult births are the first ones."  
  
"And you lose more women during the first one." Kagome finishes.  
  
Keade nods. "But, still, getting back to what, I was saying about combat. Women, more so than most men, have to defy death. Most women will have children, but only a few men actually become warriors. Most men are farmers and such."  
  
"Hmmm. So, the next time Inu-yasha starts to brag about his courage in combat . . . I can mention that women have to face something similar."  
  
Keade nods. She sighs, "Not that I'd expect Inu-yasha to agree that childbirth is similar to combat."  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes, I can't see him admitting that."  
  
They enter the shrine and dispose of the afterbirth and the rest of the trash.  
  
That night . . . In Kagome's bedroom on her side of the well . . .  
  
Kagome enters the room from the bath. She is wearing her nightgown. She goes to the desk and pulls out a scroll that Keade gave her this afternoon. She taps the scroll with one hand, as she thinks. 'Village life . . . I know the Keade is showing me the good side of life in the village. She does want me to stay and become her heir.'  
  
She sighs, 'life in the village is simple and one thing that I've always noticed is that everyone helps each other. Even raising the kids is a community effort, just about any adult is the uncle or aunt of the children and if they see something, they'll fix it, not ignore it, like you see here. It is everyone business to make sure that the village works smoothly. But.'  
  
She looks around her room. 'That community, though, comes with a price. Privacy like this is unknown in the village. The only person in the village that sleeps alone is Keade. How much do I value my privacy?'  
  
She shakes her head. 'I don't have to decide that, now. But . . . sooner or later, I'm going to have to make that choice.'  
  
Kagome opens and begins to read the scroll.  
  
A few minutes later . . .  
  
She reads. 'Hmm . . . Yes, I can tell Keade, that I think I've got this spell down.' She thinks. The scroll is a midwife spell that Keade gave her to read and learn. The spell helps women that are having trouble producing milk for their children.  
  
She opens her nightgown up, revealing her breasts. She teases one of her nipples. 'Do I test it on myself? I have wondered what it would be like to have a baby suck on my breasts. I'm sure one of the village women wouldn't mind if I feed a baby.'  
  
She smiles, "I think I will do it. But, not tonight." She yawns. "I'm tried, and if I cast this now, I might mess it up, so I can do in the morning." She says to herself.  
  
A few minutes later, the lights are off and Kagome is in bed, relaxing, trying to go to sleep.  
  
Kagome's eyes open wide. She stares at the shadowy ceiling above her. 'Shippo . . . what did his mother do? When I hold him after his has a nightmare . . . His mouth occasionally does go to my breasts . . . I normally shift him away, of course . . . If I'm his mother, even if it's by adoption . . . , should I open my nightgown and let him suckle on me?'  
  
One of her hands slowly goes to her breasts. The hand cups the breast, feeling it. 'And those nights when he twists and turns, as he has a hard time going to sleep . . . should I help him like Emi helped her little brother?'  
  
end part 2  
  
Authors' notes: about a part 3 to this storyline: sigh. Yes, there are some scenes that will be written. Kag/inu about bullies/role-models. Sango/inu as she apologies. (Sango/kag as she asks about Sango's family, I want to do as a separate story.)

I would have liked to asked readers there opinions, about some of Kagome's questions. SIgh, but, Fanfiction.net has a rule that if I ask, then the story is interactive, and they'll remove it. So, I can't ask for you, the readers, opinions...

I'm going to start working on A shards in Kyoto ch 13 after this. I'll decide if I should do part 3 of this, or work on the Kag/Sango story, or work on Kagome where are you.  
  
the birth sequence is from "Daily life in Japan at the time of the Samurai 1185-1603" by Louis Frederic  
  
Some of the scenes above are based on my reading of the book: Pink Samurai by Nicholas Bornoff  
  
Some of the scenes above are based on my reading of the article: The Universality of Incest by Lloyd DeMause  
  
remove the spaces to use the link if you wish to read the article.  
  
psychohistory. com / htm / 06a1incest. html  
  
thank you for reading jeff shelton 


	3. kagome and her mother

Motherhood part 3  
  
disclaimer: Please note some of the ideas and concepts that will be explored in this chapter do not represent my personal opinions, but are what I consider to be the opinions of the time and culture that I'm talking about.  
  
Disclaimer 2: This chapter will deal heavily with incest. IF a frank decision of that subject offends, do NOT read.  
  
Disclaimer 3: in western (Christian) culture Sex is the original sin. (Although disobedience was the true original sin, but, sigh) So, anything connected with sex is, at best, questionable. And incest is considered one of the worse sins. (Although, Lot and his two daughters, makes one wonder, esp. since he was considered a goodly man . . . there are other places in the bible that makes one wonder on occasion, esp. in the old testament.)  
  
In historical Japanese culture the original sin is being dirty. A lot of Shinto's ceremonies are cleaning ceremonies. Sex was NOT a sin.(or, rather, it was a minor sin, simply because in the process of engaging in sex, you tend to get dirty, sweaty, etc.) There is a time and place for everything, and in its proper place, sex is wonderful, enjoyable and you want to do it. Yes, it was known that incest breeds birth defects and, since, a family wanted strong children, you wanted to avoid weak children. But, incest was NOT an automatic sin . . . that wasn't brought into Japanese culture until after 1600 (and into Japanese law until after 1870)  
  
Kagome's mother's full name for my purpose is Higurashi Kimiko. (IF her name has been given, officially, please send me the link.)

* * *

soft knock  
  
Kagome's mother cracks open her eyes. She blinks. The soft light of a three- quarters full moon shines through the window, giving her enough light to make out the major features of her room.  
  
soft knock  
  
She glances at her door. 'Someone is knocking?' she glances at her alarm clock. It reads: 3:30 A.M.  
  
"Mom?" Kagome's voice whispers through the thin door. "Are you awake?"  
  
"No." She whispers back, "this is someone else sleeping in your mother's bed." A thin giggle floats through the door. "Can I come in?" Kagome whispers.  
  
"Of course." Kimiko whispers as she sits up in bed. The covers fall to her waist. She and her daughter share a similar style in nightgowns.  
  
Kagome quietly enters the room, closing the door behind her. "Can we talk, please?" she whispers as she looks at the floor. Kagome is wearing her normal nightgown.  
  
Kagome's mother nods. "Sit." She pats the bed next to her.  
  
Kagome nods and sits down on her mothers bed. There is about an arm's length distance between them.  
  
"What's so important?" Kimiko asks. 'Earlier tonight when she came back through the well, we had a long talk about the natural childbirth that she witnessed today. But. I thought we had covered all that. So . . . why a middle of the night talk?' she thinks.  
  
"Mother." Kagome begins to whisper. She licks her lips and starts again, "Mother, I need some help."  
  
"Of course, my dear, about what? We talked about childbirth earlier, is that it? Or is it something else?"  
  
Kagome grimaces, "Well . . . some it is connected, I suppose. But." She pauses and sighs, "when I was there, though, Emi and her mother and I got to talking about how you raise children . . . "  
  
Mrs. h slowly nods, "And they do it differently in the past."  
  
Kagome vigorously nods. "And . . . well, they said a couple of things and."  
  
"And you want my opinion on those things?"  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
Mrs. H nods. "What things do you want to talk about?"  
  
Kagome looks down at her hands, as she twiddles with her fingers. "Mother, should I breast feed Shippo?" She blurts out.  
  
Higurashi Kimiko blinks in surprise. "Ah . . . " She whispers.  
  
Kagome quickly adds, "once I thought about it, I remembered that I've seen other women breast feed older kids throughout my travels, but I've just ignored it. Now, though, I wonder."

"About what?"  
  
"Should I breast feed him?"  
  
Mrs. H purses her lips, "I would." She replies.  
  
Kagome looks up at her mother, her eyes wide with surprise, "you would, just like that?"  
  
Her mother nods, "I don't know if you remember or not, my dear, but I did breast feed you, until you were two."  
  
Kagome pauses and then shakes her head, "I remember being close to you, maybe, even suckling on you, but. I couldn't swear to that."  
  
Kimiko nods. "I did. And," She reaches out and grips her daughter's hand. "I think, no, I'm sure that breast feeding you helped create the bond we share."  
  
Kagome grips her mother hand. She slowly nods. "Perhaps."  
  
Mrs. H shakes her head, yes. "I'm sure of it."  
  
"Really?" Kagome asks in surprise.  
  
Her mother nods, "yes. I breast feed you and our bond is strong." She squeezes Kagome's hand. "I did not breast feed Sota." She sighs, "And my bond with him is a lot weaker than I'd like it be."  
  
"And you think not breast feeding Sota is the reason?"  
  
"Yes. Or at least, a large part of the reason." Mrs. h replies. She sighs, "when he was born, and since he was premature, the doctors had all these special formulas and diets for him to eat. Because of that, I didn't breast feed him, and now, as Sota grows up . . . " She pauses, "my bond with him." She shakes her head.  
  
"Are you sure, Mom?"  
  
She nods. "Yes, more than ever. I had thought that my bond with him was weaker than it should be, and with you gone . . . " She sighs, "I've been able to spend more time with Sota, and." She slowly shakes her head. "And instead of growing closer, we aren't."  
  
A pause and Mrs. H continues, "I have even thought about starting to allow Sota to suckle on me."  
  
"Mom?" Kagome's eyes widen in surprise.  
  
Mrs. h shrugs, "I won't, Kagome, it's been too long. But, I've got to find ways to get closer to my son." Mrs. H's free hand forms a fist and she softly pounds her thigh. "It's just, as I rethink my actions when he was born . . . I keep wishing I told my doctor that I'm breast feeding my son, no matter what."  
  
She sighs, "Kagome, please, don't think that I dislike doctors, they are really good people, but, their training, their instruments are designed around something that they can measure. Your temperature, a virus, and so forth, but, a bond between a mother and her child . . . you can't measure that."  
  
Kagome slowly nods and she covers her mother's hand with both of her, "And since a doctor has to treat what he can measure."  
  
"When there's something involved that he can't measure."  
  
"He can't take that into account as well as he could have."  
  
Mrs. H nods. In a low, but intense tone she stresses, "I should have been the person that Sota saw when he opened his eyes, not a nurse. I should have been there, holding him, feeding him, creating the bond between us. And he should never have been left laying there with a tube down his throat, I should have held him all the time . . . "  
  
Kagome reaches out and wraps her arms around her mother. Her mother hugs her. Kagome begins to slowly rock back and forth as she listens to her mother sob into her chest.  
  
Kagome's eyes tear up as she whispers, "mom . . . I never knew . . . "  
  
"I didn't want you to know." Kimiko whispers, after a long pause.  
  
Higurashi Kimiko slowly releases her daughter. She softly clears her throat. "I'm sorry, Kagome. I shouldn't have . . . "  
  
Kagome grabs her mother's hands and squeezes. "Mother. I'm proud of you. And I'm more than proud that you told me that." She smiles, "And, if I can help you with Sota, just ask."  
  
A pause as Kagome's mother cleans the tears from her face. "So, you see why I think that breasting Shippo is a good thing?"  
  
Kagome nods. "Before I came in, mom, I was pretty sure that I was going to breast feed him. Now, I'm positive that I will."  
  
Kimiko squeezes her daughter's hands and sighs, "Kagome, to be honest, from the stories you've told about Shippo, I think that your bond with is strong enough that you really don't need to breast feed him. I think your bond with him is about as good as you can make it, given the circumstances."  
  
"But, you still think that I should?" Kagome asks.  
  
Her mother nods. "I don't think it'll hurt and it can help."  
  
Kagome nods as she interrupts, "yes, that was what I was thinking, especially on those nights when he wakes up crying, I really need to comfort him, however, I can."  
  
Mrs. H nods. "Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking."  
  
A pause . . .  
  
Kagome sighs, "mother?"  
  
"There is something else?" Mrs. H asks. 'Yes, there is. She just said that she had, almost, made up her mind about breast feeding before she woke me up. So, what?' She thinks.  
  
Kagome takes a deep breath and sighs. "It's about comforting Shippo."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Exactly how far should I go when I comfort him?" Kagome asks. In a quick voice she blurts out, "Emi comforted her brother by masturbating him to sleep."  
  
"I see . . . " Higurashi Kimiko slowly says.  
  
"And," Kagome continues to quickly speak, "I've been in the village, a lot. I've been in other villages, in which, I'm sure, people do the same thing. But, I have not seen anything really bad. Like, since incest is bad, you'd think I would if everyone did that?"  
  
Mrs. H nods, a sharp quick nod.  
  
A pause . . .  
  
"Mother?" Kagome whispers. Her face may be shadowy from the moonlight, by her anxious expression shine through.  
  
Kagome's mother takes a deep breath and lets it out.  
  
"How to start . . . " she whispers. She reaches out and grabs Kagome's hands. Kagome squeezes back.  
  
Mrs. H licks her lips. "Kagome." She nods as she decides what to say. "I'm only going to say this once, so . . . "  
  
"Mom?" Kagome's whisper is a mixture of concern and fright.  
  
"When I was thinking about trying to bond closer with Sota, I have considered doing that, or something close to it."  
  
Kagome takes in a deep breath. "Are you going to?"  
  
Higurashi Kimiko sighs deeply, "probably not, but . . . the temptation is there, Kagome."  
  
Kagome nods. "I see." She hisses.  
  
Her mothers slowly shakes her head, "I don't think so, my dear." She can see Kagome about to interrupt, so she quickly continues with, "You don't know my history or . . . or what happened between your father and I."  
  
Kagome closes her mouth with a snap. She clears her throat. "Mother?"  
  
Mrs. H looks down, at the bed, as she whispers, "incest is part of the family's history, my daughter."  
  
Kagome's eyes go round with surprise  
  
Mrs. H sighs, "because of that, I've thought about this, a lot, my dear." She shakes her head, "Kagome, what I'm going to do is talk about things in general, than, I'll go into the family's history."  
  
She thinks, 'and over the years my views on how to raise my children have changed over time. When I was younger, I was going to raise them by the most modern methods. . . now. . . I wonder, people were raising children for centuries by the old traditional methods. . . some of them have to do some good. . .'  
  
"Ok." Kagome whispers.  
  
Mrs. h clears her throat. "First. Incest is bad, why?"  
  
"Birth defects." Kagome quickly responds, then "it's against the law."  
  
Mrs. H nods. "Kagome, earlier today when we were talking about childbirth you mentioned that some of the mothers and children died during birth." Kagome nods.  
  
"I'll bet you that if you asked Keade, she'd tell you that some, how many I don't know, but some, of those children were from incestuous relationships."  
  
Kagome slowly says, "that has to be the cause of some of Keade's problems." She looks at her mother, "I need to tell her about this!" she says with some excitement. "It'll help her!"  
  
Mrs. h shrugs, "my dear, I'm sure that Keade already knows it." She says in a dull voice  
  
"But, what mom? You sounded like it doesn't matter?" Kagome replies quickly.  
  
"She probably warns them, but, people don't listen to warnings all the time."  
  
"Oh." Kagome says in a small voice.  
  
"And about incest being against the law, well. A lot of that is from the west. Even a quick glance at our family tree will show you a lot of marriages between uncles and nieces, and other close relations." MRs H pauses, "I don't agree with everything that my father says about turning back the clock and getting rid of the western influences and becoming pure Japanese, but, he does have a point when he says that we changed our laws in 1870's to conform to western practices."  
  
Kagome slowly nods, remembering times when her grandfather has ranted and raved about the bad effects the west has had on Japan.  
  
"And, Kagome, remember, my favorite artists, and the ones that I pattern my professional art styles on are from the feudal times, so, I'm familiar with their personal histories, including who slept with whom." She smiles, "And since you've been visiting then, I've tried to read up on the history of the times."  
  
"So you knew that something like this was going on?" Kagome asks.  
  
Mrs. H nods. "Of course. I didn't really think it would be important. Even if you meet a relative, the differences in generations mean that incest isn't possible."  
  
"Mom, I am more concerned about a mom and her son and how that affects their relationship." Kagome says sharply.  
  
Kagome's mother nods. "Yes, I understand, my dear, but, there are differences between now and then, ok? And I'm talking about then."  
  
"Mom." Kagome starts to say, then pauses. "Ok. There are a lot of differences between the times."  
  
Mrs. H nods. "Yes. Now, why is incest wrong?"  
  
Kagome pauses, "birth defects are known, but, they do it anyway, so that's out. And," she nods, "the laws about marriages where a lot looser then. I have read about marriages between close family members and marriage with multiple wives were accepted and praised."  
  
"Marriages between uncles and nieces were even considered lucky." Mrs. H interrupts. "And... When a father died, it wasn't uncommon for the son to have sex with his mother, to prove to the family, who the new head of the family was."  
  
Kagome looks at her mother, "but, isn't incest supposed to be bad? Where are the bad parts?"  
  
"Some of the bad part is from the west, my dear. The culture and morality of the west," Kagome mother pauses, "hates sex. So, throughout the history of the west the Christian church keep telling everyone that sex was wrong. Shinto never did that. And without that constant voice yelling in everyone's ear the sex is wrong, marriages and sexuality in Japan were different."  
  
Mrs. H pauses, "yes, there are some sects of Shinto and Buddhism that feel that sex is a major sin, but not all sects do. Most sects will have some rules and laws governing sex, but compared to how it is treated in the west, those are minor laws. Like some of the laws governing what you can eat in some western religions."  
  
Kagome nods. She thinks, 'that makes sense. Shinto and Buddhism are different from Christianity.'  
  
"Now about," Mrs. H sighs, "the bad part is that the relationship between a young person, say, a girl and an older man, her father. There is already a bond between them and them having sex will change that bond, right?"  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"Even between adult men and women that are the same age, their relationship can be twisted into something bad, depending on them. When you add in the age and the maturity difference, the father would find it very easy to twist the relationship with his daughter into something bad."  
  
Kagome grimaces, "I can see that. The daughter wants to please her father and then you add in this, and if the father has any problems, he can take it out on her."  
  
Mrs. H nods, "turning a healthy father-daughter relationship into an unhealthy relationship." She pauses, "And, Kagome, remember, you don't need sex for this to happen. Sometimes people have children and they are not prepared for it, and the relationship becomes abusive, simply because the father and mother are poor parents."  
  
Kagome slowly nods, "that's why the nurse at school has problems when I show up at school with a bruise. She thinks that you, or someone else, are abusing me."  
  
Kagome' mothers nods, "Kagome, I think that I've thought of something might show the differences between now and then and why incest back then wasn't considered bad."  
  
Kagome bends forward, "What?"  
  
"Kagome." Her mother begins, "what would happen if say, a father started to rape his daughter in Keade's village?"  
  
"Keade would hear it happen, instantly, probably while it was happening." Kagome replies, and surety shines in her voice. "She'd," Kagome pauses, "I could see her killing the father, slowly, right then and there. Definitely he would be kicked out of the village before the day is out. Probably nude and maybe even with his balls cut off."  
  
Mrs. h nods, under her breath she whispers, "that's the easiest someone like that should be treated." Then she says, "And how would Keade hear it happen?"  
  
"There's no privacy in the village." Kagome looks at her mother.  
  
Her mother slowly nods.  
  
"That's it?" Kagome asks.  
  
"I think so." Higurashi Kimiko replies, "in today's culture, especially in western thoughts, privacy is very important, so, what happens behind closed doors nobody knows about. Until it's too late and it spills into the open." She pauses and she shivers in fright, "like when you hear about those kids killing other kids in USA. Those kids had the privacy to plan and prepare."  
  
Kagome nods, "where in the past, there isn't any privacy. As soon as something starts to wrong, somebody knows . . . "  
  
She pauses, "and the gossip in those villages." She nods. "I've never seen gossip spread as fast." she whispers in an undertone.  
  
Mrs. H nods. "Also, my dear, in those villages, everyone has to work together, to grow the crops, and make the clothes. The community spirit is very strong."  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes. Sometimes I've thought that the village is basically one huge family. They work too together so closely."  
  
Mrs. H smiles, "My dear, I'm sure that if you asked Keade about the marriage records, and looked at them, that you'd find that everyone in the village is related to each other. Everyone has aunts, uncles, two, three, maybe four times removed intertwined throughout the village."  
  
Kagome pauses, then nods. "I think you're right, mother. As I walk through the village, I hear them refer to each other as aunt, uncles, etc. I'd always considered that to be, you know, a term of endearment, like when I used to call a couple of the female neighbors, my aunts. But, now, I'm pretty sure that they meant related by blood."  
  
Kagome's mother nods, "yes, but, what I was trying to point out, Kagome, is everyone in the village helps each other. You don't get people on welfare, you don't get people that just loaf around do you? The western mantra of individualism hasn't destroyed community spirit yet."  
  
Kagome, a shocked tone in her voice, says, "Never, mother." She shakes her head, "Those villages live on the edge of existence, a heavy rain at the wrong time and most of the village would starve to death."  
  
"And, I think you've seen that all the kids, as they run around the village, have to obey any adult?"  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes." She pauses, "I think I see what you're saying, mother. Everything in the village is a community effort, including raising the children."  
  
Her mother nods. "Yes. Which means that everyone in the village has a responsibility to make sure that the children are raised properly."  
  
Kagome slowly nods, "And so, should they even think that some is hurting anyone in the village, they'll investigate and fix it. And if someone looks like they are a bad parent, someone will take them aside and give them correct advice and help. Where now . . . Nobody knows about that, until it's too late." She pauses, "But, mom, why would they think that . . . incest between a mother and son is OK?"  
  
Kimiko pauses, "Everyone sleeps together, right?"  
  
Kagome nods, "especially during the winter. There's no central heating. All most of the families have is a pot with some heated embers for heat during the night."  
  
Kagome's mother, with a twinkle in her eye, asks, "And when raising a child, if they ask questions you should answer them, right? And, if necessary, show them the answer, right?"  
  
Kagome slowly nods, as she knows that is a leading question.  
  
Her mother nods, "Ok. A husband and wife will have sex, right?" Kagome nods. She continues, "and since there is no privacy, sooner or later, the children are going to see it, right?"  
  
Kagome slowly nods.  
  
Mrs. H allows a small smile on her lips, "If, says, Shippo, saw you and Inu- yasha having fun in bed, wouldn't he want to ask questions? And join in?"  
  
Kagome, even in the dim light her mother can see her blush, as she cries, "Mom!" Mrs. H smiles, "And if you pushed him away and said go away. Wouldn't he throw a temper tantrum?"  
  
Kagome, still beet red, nods.  
  
"Back then, and it still happens today, it was considered better to answer his questions and, if he wanted to join in, that was ok, as well." She pauses, watching Kagome.  
  
Kagome pauses and looks around. "Are you sure, mom?"  
  
Mrs. H slowly nods, "pretty sure. Since sex wasn't a major sin, some parents felt that, as a good parent, they should show their children how to pleasure their bodies. They basically felt that since, as good parents, you teach your child, say . . . that it's bad to hike up your skirt and piss on the side of the road."  
  
Kagome squeals, as she whispers, "Mom!"  
  
"So, as good parents, they need to show their child how to use their bodies in bed." She pauses, "Also, remember, Kagome, there is no TV, there wasn't many books, so how else was a person to learn about sex, except by watching others?"  
  
Kagome opens her mouth to point out that there are some books about sex, but closes it when she realizes that the normal peasant farmer isn't going to have that type of book.  
  
Mrs. H sighs, "And, Kagome, I'll be honest with you, if Sota was your age, and he was sleeping next to me every night, like what would be happening in the past. I'll be very tempted to reach over and grab him."  
  
"Mom?!"  
  
Higurashi Kimiko nods. "There are nights, Kagome . . . " she sighs. "I get very, very lonely."  
  
Kagome reaches out and hugs her mother. "Will you?" she whispers.  
  
Her mother sighs, "probably not, my dear. I know that things were different in the past, but, I don't live then, I live now and." Her mouth twitches into a smile, "so . . . I'll find other ways to get close to my son, instead of that traditional way."  
  
They hug . . .  
  
After a few minutes they separate. Kagome's mother asks, "Now, do you understand why things were different in the past?"  
  
Kagome slowly nods, as she says, "Privacy was, at best, very limited and everyone lived together. So, physical intimacies were common. But, since everyone knew about it, the relationships didn't become abusive."  
  
Mrs. h interrupts, "most of them didn't, my dear, I'm sure that there were times when it did become abusive. And, the definition of abuse was different. Since this was common, it wasn't considered abusive, just normal."  
  
Kagome nods, "and since the family and village worked together and raised the children together, even if your mother or father, weren't the best, someone else in the village could take over and give the children guidance."  
  
Kagome's mother nods, "yes, I'm sure that they did. The rules for adoptions were very loose and many families adopted in new family members." She pauses, then continues, "here, in the present, privacy and individualism is stronger."  
  
She waves at her window and at the house they can see through it. "In the past, I'd know everything about our neighbors, now, I don't. So, because of that, if a person has a child, but he's not a good father. I'm not going to know about it, until he's already hurt his kids and probably not until he's hurt them badly. And by that time, it's probably too late to really help his children."  
  
Kagome looks at the window. She nods.  
  
Kagome's mother sighs, "When I was your age, Kagome, I was always yelling and screaming at your grandmother. I was going to be free. I was going to be independent. Just like the girls in the USA." She shakes her head. "Now. I wonder. Is that privacy and independence worth it? When the police catch a killer, how many times do I hear that he was a private person that no one really knew . . . " her voice trails off, as she stares out the window.  
  
"Mother?"  
  
"In the past, you could leave the house and not worry about thieves. If someone walked up and talked to my daughter or son, I'd know him. Or, if I didn't, I'd know that someone would be watching the house and children and would raise the alarm if something happened." Higurashi Kimiko replies. "Now? I have to make sure the house is locked, and I have to remind Sota not to talk to strangers."  
  
Kagome slowly nods.  
  
A pause as Kagome reaches out and grabs her mother's hands. Her mother squeezes back.  
  
"Mother?" Kagome whispers. "You said something about you?"  
  
Her mother nods.  
  
"Did grandfather?" Kagome whispers.  
  
Kagome' mothers' lips' twist into a smile, "are you thinking that he hurt me? HA!" she shakes her head, no. "No. If anything, I hurt him over the years."  
  
She thinks, 'he was in the middle of my fights with my mother, and then as things went downhill with my husband, he was caught in the middle of that as well. Every one of us hurt him.'  
  
"Mother?" confusion colors Kagome's voice.  
  
Mrs. H sighs, "yes, Kagome, he and I did have sex over the years. He took my maidenhood, in fact." Her lips twitch again. "And I've had worse lovers over the years." She sighs. "All and all, he is a good man, if weak, and, to be honest, I did enjoy myself with him."  
  
Kagome's eyes grow wide as she stares at her mother . . .  
  
"But, my father has no backbone, Kagome. I'd go to him and he'd agree to do whatever I said. Then, my mother would get to him, and she'd twist him around so he'd follow her orders." She shakes her head. "That made life in this house, when I was a teenager, very much a battleground. I'd want to do something, and I'd get my father's permission. Then, when I'd get home, my mother would have convinced him to rescind that permission."  
  
"Mom?" Kagome whispers.  
  
Her mother, as she stares off in the distance, lost in her memories, continues to whisper, "Mother got her revenge, though, I was soo concerned with making sure that I could do what I wanted to do, now, that I ignored the future. She didn't." She blinks and looks at Kagome.  
  
"That's the reason I was introduced to your father, Kagome. He was my mother's revenge on me."  
  
Kagome takes in a deep breath, "you mean?"  
  
"That he was evil?" Higurashi Kimiko shakes her head, "Not like you describe some of the demons that you fight, my dear." She sighs, "IF anything, he just didn't care about other people." Her mouth twitches into a smile. "I take that back, he did care about appearances, but the consequences of his actions, that's what he didn't care about. He was a very irresponsible person." Kagome slowly nods, but does not say anything, waiting to see if her mother continues to speak.  
  
"And he did make a good first impression on me." Her mother slowly shakes her head. "My mother didn't have to twist my arm all that hard to get me to marry him. And . . . " She sighs. "The first couple of years were quite good. When he was here, he was a good lover and he cared enough about my mother's good graces that he controlled himself."  
  
Kimiko looks at Kagome, and she continues. "And then, my mother died of a heart attack, while arguing with me. Do you want to know what we were arguing about?"  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"You were about two years old, at the time. I found my mother masturbating you to sleep." Kagome takes in a sharp breath. "She and I began to yell about the proper way to raise you. She was going on that was traditional and I was going on that I didn't want to be traditional. She had her heart attack in the middle of that."  
  
Kagome's eye's widen . . .  
  
A pause. "After that, though, my marriage began to go downhill. Your father's gambling and drinking habits increased. And, even though I knew that he'd been unfaithful, since soon after our wedding night, the amount of money that he was spending on women increased."  
  
Kagome's mother thinks, 'I'm not going to tell you, dear, about my wedding night and the drunken party that occurred. I was never sure exactly how many of his friends visited my bed that night. Nor how many of their girlfriends he visited, that night.' Her mouth twitches, 'I still wish I knew who was the one with those piercing, unforgettable eyes, I don't remember much about else about him, but, if I could ever find him, again, I'd marry him on the spot. What I do remember . . . is unforgettable.'  
  
Kagome squeezes her mother's hand.  
  
Mrs. h squeezes back. She pauses. She looks around the room as she bites her lips. "When I was pregnant with Sota, my desire to have sex became very limited, my dear."  
  
She pauses again.  
  
"The final argument with your father occurred then." A pause. "I woke up in the middle of the night," her mouth twitches in a smile. "I had to piss, and your father wasn't sleeping next to me."  
  
A pause.  
  
"He was in your room. He had taken the covers off, and pulled up your nightgown. He was masturbating, staring at you." She whispers.  
  
Kagome swallows hard. Her hands and her mother's hands are white as they squeeze it other. "I was sick, wasn't I?" Kagome whispers, "I remember that much. You'd given me some medicine and that made me soo woozy, I don't remember much."  
  
'The fights between my parents were getting worse and worse, and I thought that pretending to be sick might help stop the fights.' Kagome thinks, 'but. Mom doped me up so much, I just don't remember much about the last few days that he was here.'  
  
Her mother nods. "Yes. You were out of it." Her mouth twitches into a smile. "You missed that final argument." She shakes her head. "I don't really want to say more."  
  
Kagome reaches out and hugs her mother. "If you don't want to, don't, mother."  
  
They hug. Both of them quietly cry into each others shoulder.  
  
Time passes . . .  
  
Kagome takes a deep breath and releases her mother. She cleans her face and whispers, "So you think that I should not go any further than breast- feeding Shippo, mother?"  
  
Her mother sighs, "I don't know, my dear."  
  
"Mom?" Surprise colors Kagome's instantaneous response.  
  
"Kagome." Kimiko sighs. She reaches out and grips her daughter's hands. "Before you were born and ever after it, I wasn't mature enough to be a good parent." A pause, "While I did breast feed you, that was at my mother's demand."  
  
Her eyes tear up. "And yes, after the first couple of days, I enjoyed holding you enough that I continued to breast feed you, but." She shakes her head. "I was not a good parent and I didn't really try to be one until after my mother died. "  
  
Kagome, wordlessly, squeezes her mother's hands, hard.  
  
"When I was your age, Kagome," she sighs, "I remember one time, I bet the soccer team that if they won, I'd do a striptease and more in the locker room with all of them."  
  
"Mom?!"  
  
Mrs. H's lips twist into a smile, "yes, Kagome, that was the type of girl I was. Not that I really enjoyed nights like that, really. IT was the expression on my mother's face that I enjoyed seeing, when she found out about it. My reputation in school was horrible." She sighs, "but, as my marriage went to hell, the neighbors took pity on me, and then, when he vanished and I was left to raise you and an unborn son, things began to change. As people saw that I was trying to raise you that helped my reputation."  
  
She squeezes Kagome's hands, "you were such a nice, respectful and obedient child, that as your reputation grew, it helped my reputation." She smiles, "If I could raise a child as good as you, than I had to be better than my reputation in school would have made me out to be."  
  
Kagome whispers, "Mother, I wish to thank you about telling me all that."  
  
She thinks, 'that does make some of the odd comments I've heard over the years, make sense.'  
  
Mrs. h sighs, "About your question on how to raise Shippo, my dear. I wouldn't do anything more than breast feed him."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"But." Her mother continues, "I think that you are mature enough that I don't think that you would twist your relationship with Shippo into something bad, if you did masturbate him or do more with him." She pauses, "So, my daughter, I'm not going to tell you how to raise him. I wouldn't, but I think you could and it would not hurt your relationship."  
  
Kagome looks at her mother, "you're not going to make that decision for me, are you? You think that I'm mature enough that I can make it by myself?" she asks, but she really doesn't expect an answer.  
  
Her mother nods.  
  
Kagome looks away and shakes her head. "I don't know . . . comforting him like that seems wrong to me." She sighs, "And he isn't human, I wonder . . . "  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
"I'm going to ask Sango and maybe Keade about how kitsune children are raised, once I know more, then I'll make my decision."  
  
Her mother nods. "Yes. I'd forgotten about that. Since he's not human, human behavior patterns don't apply." She smiles, "Although, my dear, since he's not human, and not even your natural son, the birth defect problem with incest goes away."  
  
Kagome's mouth twitches, "yes. I'd already thought about that. But, you might be wrong there, mother."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"His genetics isn't human, either, and combining that with human genetics? There might still be birth defects."  
  
Mrs. H nods. "I see."  
  
A pause as both women look at each other.  
  
Kagome bends over and hugs her mother, hard. "Mother. I love you." She whispers into Kimiko's ears.  
  
Her mother hugs back, hard. "Thank you, daughter." Her eyes tear up. "I've . . . occasionally thought about telling you about this, but . . . I just never worked up the courage to start this conversation."  
  
"It's ok, mother." Kagome squeezes, "I understand why you never spoke about it."  
  
They continue to hug each other, both of them quietly crying.  
  
The end chapter 3.  
  
There will be a chapter 4. With Kagome & Sango talking about kitsune children, Sango and inu-yasha as she apologizes to him. Kagome and Shippo talking. Kagome and Inu-yasha talking about Shippo and role models. And Kagome/Inu/Shippo scene.  
  
Some of the scenes/opinions above are based on my reading of the book: Pink Samurai by Nicholas Bornoff  
  
Some of the scenes above are based on my reading of the article: The Universality of Incest by Lloyd DeMause  
  
Remove the spaces to use the link if you wish to read the article.  
  
psychohistory. com / htm / 06a1incest. html  
  
A section of that article is below.  
  
One of the most endogenous societies in the world, Japan has approved of incestuous marriages in court circles even in historical times.(152) Preferred sibling, cousin, uncle-niece and aunt-nephew marriages have been so extensive that genetics experts have discovered that the inbreeding has affected their size and health.(153) How often this incestuous marriage system occurred in traditional Japan is still largely unexplored. One indication of what is likely to be found is a 1959 study by Kubo showing that there were still rural areas in Japan where fathers married their daughters when the mother had died or was incapacitated, "in accordance with feudal family traditions.(154) Kubo concluded that incest was considered "praiseworthy conduct" in many traditional rural families. In the 36 incest cases he studied in Hiroshima, he found that there was often community moral disapproval of the families who lived in open incestuous marriages, but that the participants themselves did not think of it as immoral. In fact, when the father was unavailable to head the family, his son often took over his role and had sex with his sister in order "to end confusion in the order of the home." Other members of the family accepted this incest as normal.  
  
Haragei : The stomach game: one meaning, used by politicians: publicly stating support for one position while actually working for the opposite end. (There are some martial arts definitions about understanding things without words or explanations.)  
  
Fanfiction.net has an official policy that states  
  
Any form of entry that would use the review system as a message board: "Ask . . . ", interactive, and etc.  
  
So, I can not, officially, ask readers what their opinions of future actions. "Things like: What should Kagome do next? Etc."  
  
thank you for reading jeff shelton


	4. Inuyasha reacts

Motherhood 4  
  
Authors' notes: this chapter will offend some readers. If you are offended by different cultural ways to raise and educate children, do not read. Western civilization is not the only way to raise a child.

* * *

During the same time frame that the last part of Motherhood 2 and all of motherhood 3.  
  
Late Afternoon: Near the Well, on Inu-yasha's side.  
  
Inu-yasha is sitting in one of the nearby trees, staring, glumly at the well. 'She told me to stay on this side of the well.' He thinks.  
  
His eyes glance down on the ground below him. There is a new, fresh Inu- yasha-shaped crater near the tree. 'Even sat me, to make sure I stay on this side.'  
  
He rubs his chin. 'She didn't have to do that. I know she wants to talk to her mother about female things.' He shudders. 'I don't want to know about any other that crap. Women's things are for women.'  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Sango calls as she walks up to the tree.  
  
"What do you want, woman?" He growls down, without looking at her.  
  
"I'd like to talk to you, Inu-yasha." She replies.  
  
"We're talking." He is still not looking at her.  
  
She grinds her teeth together.  
  
Her fist hits the tree trunk shaking the tree. Inu-yasha's claws dig into the tree, holding him in place in the tree. He, now, glares down at Sango. "Woman. What was that for?"  
  
Sango glares up at him, "Inu-yasha. I want to talk to you. Not to the back of your thick skull."  
  
He glares down at her.  
  
"Inu-yasha." She grits out through her clenched teeth. "I would appreciate being able to talk to you. Face to face, without you being in some stupid tree."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Inu-yasha." Sango glares at him.  
  
Her eyes fall to the ground. "Please." She whispers, knowing that his ears will hear it, though no one else would.  
  
'Please?' Inu-yasha thinks. 'What the hell?'  
  
"Did my ears hear correctly?" Inu-yasha asks, perhaps with a hint of humor in his tone.  
  
Sango gathers up her giant boomerang. "Inu-yasha." She places the edge against the tree trunk. "I will not ask again. I will chop down this tree."  
  
Inu-yasha purses his lips. He jumps down, landing next to her.  
  
Sango stares at Inu-yasha. She bites her lips, obviously considering her options.  
  
"Well, woman?" Inu-yasha growls, after a small pause.  
  
Her fist, the one not holding her boomerang closes, brushing against her kimono's sleeve.  
  
Sango takes a deep breath, "I've got something to tell you, Inu-yasha."  
  
"Then get to it, woman, stop fucking around." Inu-yasha interrupts.  
  
She growls, "here, catch this then." She flicks a wadded up strip of paper at him.  
  
He automatically catches it, and opens it.  
  
Inu-yasha freezes...  
  
"You don't want to know what I had to promise Miroku to get him to make that paralyzation scroll for me." Sango's tone is full of disgust.  
  
Elsewhere . . .  
  
Miroku sneezes. 'Is someone talking about me?' he thinks.  
  
"Got something up your nose?" Shippo asks. "Dig it out and wipe your finger on your clothes, like Inu-yasha."  
  
Miroku pauses, pulls out a silk cloth, blows his nose, and then he remarks, "You know, Shippo, I wonder does he do that on purpose to prove that he's an uncultured idiot or does, he just doesn't think?"  
  
"Doesn't think."  
  
Inu-yasha, even with a paralyzation scroll on him, sneezes.  
  
Sango's eyes narrow in surprise, but Inu-yasha doesn't move again.  
  
Sango takes a deep breath and lets out a long, loud sigh. "I paralyzed you, Inu-yasha, because I've got something to say to you. It won't be easy, and if your mouth was working you'd make it ten times harder."  
  
Inu-yasha glares back at her. 'When I get free . . . ' he thinks angrily . . .  
  
Sango looks away from Inu-yasha. "Inu-yasha."  
  
She stops, pauses. She paces around him a couple of times.  
  
"Inu-yasha." She begins again, still looking away from him. "Earlier today." She stops again.  
  
"This is harder than I thought it'd be." She grumbles under her breath.  
  
'But, Kagome would do it. And she'd expect me to.' She thinks. She nods. 'And If I'm going to do it, I need to do it correctly.'  
  
Sango spins around, walks up to Inu-yasha, looking him directly in his eyes.  
  
She bows, deeply to him. And, while still looking at the ground, she says, "I, Sango, am sorry for underestimating you today, Inu-yasha."  
  
She rises up, and looks him in the eyes, "I did not believe that you were capable of acting good enough to save the child's life."  
  
Sango pauses, and nods her head at Inu-yasha. "You were. I am apologizing for that mistake."  
  
She reaches out and takes the paralyzation scroll from Inu-yasha, freeing him.  
  
Inu-yasha reaches out, instantly, grabs Sango by the neck and slams her against the tree. "How do you like that, bitch!" He growls into her face. "This is exactly like you treated me."  
  
Sango stares at him. "I know. I did what I thought was necessary to save that child's life, Inu-yasha. And, if I thought I needed to do it again. I will." She says through clenched teeth. "And this is why I paralyzed you, Inu-yasha. So, I could apologize in peace."  
  
He glares at her, still holding her tight against the tree trunk.  
  
"But, if you expect me to apologize for hitting you earlier today." Sango's glare bores into him. "No."  
  
He growls, wordlessly.  
  
"I was, thinking about it, at least, but then you grabbed me. So. No."  
  
They stare into each other's eyes . . .  
  
He releases her. Sango slides down the tree trunk a few centimeters, before her feet hit the ground.  
  
Inu-yasha spins around, "I won't be caught like that again." He growls under his breath and starts to walk away.  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Sango calls.  
  
He turns his head, "What?"  
  
"Aren't you going to say 'thank you'?"  
  
He growls, without turning around, "no."  
  
Sango quickly runs up to him, grabs his shoulder and spins him around.  
  
Inu-yasha's right fist rises. "Bitch!"  
  
"Ummppph!"  
  
Once Sango removes her foot from his crotch, Inu-yasha collapses to the ground, curled into a tight ball. His hand's are cupping his very bruised balls.  
  
Sango bends down and whispers into his ear. "One of these days, Inu-yasha." She pauses, "one of these days, you had better learn how to accept an apology."  
  
She starts to raise, then bends down again, "And, Inu-yasha, one of these days. You had better learn how to apologize. For Kagome's sake, at least."  
  
She spins around, grabs her boomerang, and walks off. She pauses, spins around and says, "And if you want a rematch. Just tell me, but, you're going to have to challenge me in front of Kagome and tell her why."  
  
Sango stalks off . . .  
  
"Bitch . . . " Inu-yasha squirms in pain. 'I'll get you. One of these days.'  
  
later . . .  
  
Sango and Miroku are walking outside the village.  
  
"I assume that Keade didn't really need Shippo." Miroku says, "and you wanted us to be alone."  
  
Sango nods.  
  
Miroku raises his eyebrow.  
  
Sango growls at him.  
  
"And?" He whispers.  
  
She spins around facing away from him and begins to hike up her kimono.  
  
"Sango!" Miroku says in surprise, as the bottom of her kimono raises above her knees.  
  
She turns her head and growls at him, "Isn't this want you wanted, Pervert? To grab my ass in payment for that scroll?"  
  
Miroku spins around, so he isn't looking at her, "No, Lady Sango. I didn't mean that."  
  
Sango drops her kimono, which falls with an audible thump. "Huh?" her face is blank in surprise. "But . . . "  
  
Miroku spins around, walks up to her. He smiles, "You misunderstood, Lady Sango. I did not want you to hike up your clothes."  
  
Sango's expression of surprise grows . . .  
  
Miroku moves closer to her.  
  
He reaches around and squeezes her ass.  
  
Sango automatically slaps him. He rubs his cheek.  
  
"I wanted you to grab my ass." He smiles.  
  
Sango's jaw drops . . .  
  
The next day, on Inu-yasha's side of the well. Early morning . . .  
  
"Hi!" Kagome calls as she walks into the village.  
  
The group walks out of Keade's hut and greets her.  
  
A couple of minutes later in Keade's hut.  
  
Inu-yasha growls at Kagome, "last night, Keade told me about a rumor of a shard off in the north. I want us to leave, today."  
  
Kagome looks at the other members of the group. They all nod, they've been told already.  
  
Kagome smiles and shrugs. "Ok. Inu-yasha. Just let me go home. So I can leave a note and grab my backpack."  
  
'Out in the wildness, I can be alone with people. Sitting around the village, we're always watching each other, or the villagers are watching us.' Kagome thinks. 'So, even though, I'd like to have a couple of days break . . . '  
  
"Let's go." She smiles.  
  
later that afternoon, just before nightfall . . .  
  
Kagome and Sango are bathing in a mountain stream.  
  
"Why did you ask Kirara to make sure that we'll be alone, Kagome?" Sango asks.  
  
Elsewhere . . .  
  
Kirara's long tongue is licking it's sharp fangs, as in full size, Kirara is sitting on Miroku, staring at Inu-yasha . . .  
  
"Why me, too?" Shippo's muffled voice sounds from under Kirara . . .  
  
Inu-yasha stares Kirara in the eyes.  
  
He looks away and sits down by the fire, mumbling under his breath . . .  
  
Back to the girls . . .  
  
Kagome sighs. "Sango? During your training . . . " She begins. She stops.  
  
"Yes?" Sango asks.  
  
"How much did you learn about how demons raise their young?" Kagome whispers.  
  
She thinks, 'While we've been walking, I've been watching Inu-yasha and Shippo. They don't like each other. So, if I start to breast feed Shippo, how will that affect Inu-yasha? Maybe if I know more about how they were raised, that can help me out . . . '  
  
Sango blinks. 'The childbirth yesterday must have brought that up. I wonder, whom she thinking about. How Inu-yasha was raised? Or Shippo?' she thinks.  
  
"Some," Sango replies, "is there any type of demon that you want to know about in particular?"  
  
Kagome blushes, "Kitsune's." She whispers.  
  
"Ahhh" Sango breathes. She nods.  
  
Kagome swallows hard as she nods. "Since," She begins to say, "I am, in effect, his mother . . . " Her voice trails off as she looks away.  
  
"I understand." Sango says.  
  
She sighs, "kitsune's are shape-changers, of course."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"And most of them will look like humans. They only become foxes in times of stress." Sango says, "in fact, my father always believed that most Kitsune's lived in Human villages, not in some hole in the ground."  
  
"I can see that." Kagome says.  
  
"He believed, that there were villages that were basically populated by Kitsune's, with maybe a token human family, also living in the village."  
  
Kagome breathes, "Ahh, So, if someone walks into the village it'll look normal, but, in reality most of the villagers are kitsune's."  
  
Sango nods and continues, "Since Kitsune's are, pretty much, always in and around humans, then, it follows that they have to raise their children pretty much the same way."  
  
"So that their children don't give them away." Kagome finishes up for Sango.  
  
Sango nods.  
  
Kagome looks at Sango. She bites her up and opens her mouth, but closes it.  
  
'What?' Sango thinks. 'She wants to ask me something.'  
  
"What about Dog Demons?" Kagome finally asks.  
  
Sango purses her lips, concealing a smile as she does so. 'I wondered when she would ask me about that.' She thinks.  
  
"Dog Demons?" Sango purrs. "Anyone in particular?"  
  
Kagome blushes and sinks into the water. She shakes her head. She's not going to answer that question.  
  
"Hmmm?" Sango raises her eyebrow. "IS there any specific part of raising a dog demon pup, that you're most interested in?"  
  
Kagome's blush increases in color. "Breast feeding." She whispers.  
  
"I see." Sango whispers.  
  
"Well," She continues in a louder tone. "Dog Demon's want their puppies to aggressive fighters. So, unlike human children, who are weaned slowly from their mother's breast, Dog Demons are weaned quickly from their mother's breast. They are expected to begin to hunt and eat freshly killed food at a very young age."  
  
Kagome nods. "How does that affect their relationship with their mothers?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Do the young dog demons hate their parents?" Kagome asks, "Most people, especially on this side of the well, care for and are very attached to their parents. But, if dog demons bitches stop breast feeding, and especially if they abruptly stop it, doesn't that hurt their relationship with their children?"  
  
"Ahh," Sango replies, "I see what your saying, Kagome." She slowly nods, "Yes, that might make sense. When I had nightmares, I know that my mother still would allow me to suckle on her breast, if she thought I needed it to calm me down. I can't see a dog demon bitch doing that to her son or daughter."  
  
"So?"  
  
Sango pauses, "hmm, I never really thought about it, Kagome, but you're probably correct. Most of the stories about young dog demons that I know of, are stories of young dog demons that were kicked out of their family and have to survive or are stories about the early hunts of dog demon pups."  
  
"But," Sango continues, "Now that I think about it, a lot of the stories about dog demons don't emphasize the love and care of the parents. Instead they are about the powers of the dog demons."  
  
"What about Inu-yasha?" Kagome whispers.  
  
A pause . . .  
  
"He was raised by his mother, right?" Sango asks.  
  
Kagome nods, yes.  
  
Sango nods, "then, I'd say that he was raised like humans." Her mouth twitches, "I wonder. There are some odd stories about Sesshomaru and his father and his mother . . . "  
  
"yes?"  
  
"I was just thinking that since Inu-yasha was raised by his mother, and if he was raised like other human children . . . "  
  
Sango nods. "All the time he spent with his mother, I'm sure, caused Sesshomaru to think that he's a weakling."  
  
"Since, Sesshomaru would have been weaned away from his mother at a young age." Kagome interjects.  
  
Sango nods, "And from what you've said, Inu-yasha loves his mother."  
  
"Which Sesshomaru would see as a weakness." Kagome interrupts. "And so, if he sees loving a mother as a weakness, then, it follows that hating your mother is a strength."  
  
Sango nods. "Yes, that does make sense."  
  
A pause . . .  
  
"Sango?" Kagome whispers, "How old were you when your mother offered you her breasts?"  
  
Sango sighs, her mouth twitches. "That was after one of my early fights with a very nasty demon. I almost lost." Sango shivers, "I almost died."  
  
Kagome moves next to Sango and puts her hand on Sango's shoulder. She squeezes.  
  
Sango looks at Kagome. She reaches up to her shoulder and squeezes Kagome's hand. "Thank you." She whispers. "I don't like to think about that fight."  
  
Sango sighs, "Anyway, that was three, no, four years ago."  
  
Kagome nods. "Thank you." She whispers. She removes her hand from Sango's shoulder.  
  
Kagome clears her throat. 'Do I ask her about her relationship with her father and brother? She loves her brother a lot . . . IS there something more than just the fact that he is her brother.' She thinks.  
  
Sango raises her eyebrow.  
  
"Do you think that I should breast feed Shippo?" Kagome blurts out. 'I couldn't ask.' She thinks.  
  
"Ahh." Sango breathes. "So that's what this was about?"  
  
Kagome blushes and hides deeper in the water.  
  
A pause . . .  
  
"You do know that once you do that," Sango begins, "the fiction that you are not his adopted mother fades away."  
  
Kagome slowly nods.  
  
"And?" Sango asks.  
  
Kagome sighs, "Do you know how hard it is to ignore him on those nights when his nightmares wake him up?"  
  
Sango moves next to Kagome and places her hand Kagome's shoulder. She squeezes. "IF it wasn't for Miroku, I'd have let Shippo suckle on me, a long time ago." She whispers.  
  
Kagome's mouth twitches, "Yes. I can see that problem."  
  
Sango's mouth twitches, "I figure that about five minutes after I let Shippo start to suckle on me, Miroku will have a screaming nightmare."  
  
Kagome interrupts, "And start yelling for his mother, so she can calm him down by letting him suckle on her."  
  
"Yes." Sango growls, "That is exactly what Miroku would do."  
  
Kagome places her hand on Sango's and squeezes, "So, you think that I should?"  
  
"If you are to be his mother," Sango replies, "You must." She squeezes Kagome's shoulder again.  
  
Kagome bites her lips, "That is the question, isn't it?"  
  
"Are you?" Sango whispers.  
  
Kagome sighs, as she slumps deeper into the water. "I..." she pauses, "I want to help him." She whispers, "but . . . Once I adopt him, though . . . that also affects other people . . . "  
  
"Inu-yasha." Sango whispers.  
  
Kagome nods. "They don't get along, now. I don't know what will happen if I start to breast feed him."  
  
Kagome sighs, "but . . . ignoring Shippo." She bites her lips, "On those nights when Shippo has a nightmare, I hate myself now. And . . . " She shakes her head. "I don't know."  
  
Sango squeezes Kagome's shoulder. "I'll support you, whichever way you choose."  
  
Kagome sighs, heavily. 'I've got to think about this and talk to Inu-yasha and Shippo.' She thinks.  
  
"Thank you, Sango." Kagome nods. "But, I think we've wasted enough time that the boys are going to be pissed about Kirara sitting on them, no matter what."  
  
Sango sighs, "yes. I suppose. It's time to get dressed."  
  
'I've never really thought about,' Kagome thinks, as she dresses. 'But, especially here in the past, everyone is brought up, raised and educated to be part of something. The family, the village, the Shogun, the Emperor is all more important than the individual. And . . . as part of that, the children were keep as close to the parents as possible, to help foster the feeling that to be alone is bad.'  
  
She nods to herself, 'but, in my time, the individual is emphasized. So when raising children, like Sota and myself, we are given a separate bed. The bond between the parents and children is not emphasized like it is here, because, the individual is considered more important.'  
  
She snorts, 'and then people get upset because children are unruly and don't obey the parents. Everyone tells kids to be yourself, but when you do, adults slap you down. And they wonder why kids rebel?'  
  
Kagome pauses and thinks, 'but which way is best? To be part of a group? Or to be alone? I don't know. I'm going to have to think long and hard about those questions, especially before I have any children of my own.'  
  
"Kagome?" Sango whispers, as she dresses, "it looks like your concerned about something?"  
  
Kagome nods. "Yes." She shakes her head, "but, it's nothing that has to be decided about now, Sango."  
  
A few minutes later . . .  
  
'Inu-yasha or Shippo?' Kagome thinks as she and Sango walk back to the clearing where Kirara and the boys are at. 'Which one do I talk to first?'  
  
"Thank you, Kirara." Sango says as she pats Kirara on the head. Kirara shrinks and jumps into Sango's arm.  
  
Miroku sits up with a groan. He starts to run his legs. Under his breath he is saying something about 'pins and needles.'  
  
Shippo jumps into Kagome's arms. "Why did I have to stay, Kagome?" He bugs her.  
  
Kagome ruffles his hair. "Sango and I had to talk, Shippo."  
  
"About what, bitch." Inu-yasha growls. Kagome looks at Inu-yasha. She looks around the group. Everyone is looking at her.  
  
She grimaces. "About something important, Inu-yasha."  
  
"In that case, tell us." He says.  
  
"You really want to know?" Kagome whispers.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I want to know, too." Shippo pipes up.  
  
Kagome grimaces, again. "And I want to tell you, Shippo." She looks at Inu- yasha, "And you too."  
  
"And I?" Miroku asks from the ground.  
  
"No." Sango growls at him. "It's between them."  
  
"What the fuck is going on?!" Inu-yasha cries. "If something involves me, I want to fucking know?!"  
  
"And I want to tell you, Inu-yasha!" Kagome yells, over his shout. "But, I don't want to shout it out so the world will know!"  
  
Inu-yasha and Kagome glare at each other.  
  
Kagome looks at Shippo. "Shippo, please, stay with Sango and Miroku. Inu- yasha and I are going to have a talk."  
  
Shippo looks at Inu-yasha. He looks at Kagome.  
  
"Shippo. Please, stay with me." Sango says. "They do need to talk. Alone. Please."  
  
Shippo looks at Kagome.  
  
She nods to him. "Please." She whispers.  
  
Shippo jumps from Kagome's arms and lands on Sango's shoulders.  
  
"Thank you, Shippo. I will talk to you in later." Kagome says.  
  
She walks over to Inu-yasha.  
  
He stares at her, without moving. "Please Inu-yasha. Let's find a tree where we can talk." Kagome asks.  
  
Inu-yasha's eyes flick over the rest of the group.  
  
He grabs Kagome and jumps into the trees.  
  
Miroku looks at Sango. "It is about yesterday, correct?"  
  
Sango looks at him, "Somewhat. But, a lot of it has been building for a while, I think."  
  
Shippo smiles, 'Finally. She's going to put dog-boy in his place.'  
  
A few minutes later, in a tall tree . . .  
  
Kagome grabs the tree trunk as Inu-yasha releases her. She slides down the trunk, straddling a large branch with her legs. 'Now, I won't fall off. I don't like having to look up at Inu-yasha but, this is safer.' She thinks.  
  
Inu-yasha glares down at Kagome. "What is so important?"  
  
Kagome looks up at him, 'how to start?' she thinks.  
  
She nods, "Do you know a boy in the village named Daichi?"  
  
"Huh?" Inu-yasha starts. "Yeah. Young punk. So, what about him is so important?" He sniffs, "He didn't touch you, did he?"  
  
Inu-yasha's fist forms and he cracks his knuckles. "If he did," He growls.  
  
"No! Inu-yasha, he has not touched me!" Kagome cries, "And you had better not hit him for something he hasn't done!"  
  
"Than what is it about the little twirp?"  
  
Kagome stares up at Inu-yasha, "He's getting a reputation as a bully, Inu- yasha. And he's following you around, repeating what you do."  
  
Inu-yasha glares at Kagome. "Are you calling me a bully?" he growls at her.  
  
"I don't know, Inu-yasha," Kagome replies, calmly, "but, I do know that if Daichi is a bully, and all that he's doing is the same thing that you do . . . that doesn't reflect well on you."  
  
"I'm not a bully. I hate them." Inu-yasha growls. 'I've been bullied by Sesshomaru and others as I was growing up, I hate bullies.' He thinks.  
  
"Inu-yasha, I know that you hate bullies. But, doesn't what I've said of Daichi cause some concern? If the villagers think that Daichi is a bully, and the reason he is, is that, he is doing the same things that you do, then the villagers might thank that you are a bully, too."  
  
Inu-yasha cracks his knuckles again, "IF they think that, I'll teach them a thing or two."  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Kagome cries. "Think about what you just said. And tell me, is that not, the talk of a bully."  
  
Inu-yasha opens his mouth. He closes it. He looks at Kagome.  
  
Kagome raises an eyebrow in a silent question.  
  
He spins around on the branch and walks a couple of paces away. He grabs an overhanging branch and rips it off and slowly and deliberately tears it to shred, dropping the pieces down to the ground.  
  
He spins around, and sits, cross-legged on the branch.  
  
"Well?" Kagome asks.  
  
"I am not a bully." Inu-yasha growls. "And if Daichi is, then he and I will have a talk. His face to my fist. I won't be called a bully."  
  
A pause . . .  
  
"Inu-yasha, please, think about this. Please." Kagome begs.  
  
He grunts, perhaps in a positive way, perhaps in a negative way.  
  
"Daichi, if he is a bully, is also a problem that Keade is trying to solve. If you work with her, you might solve both problems."  
  
"I'm not taking the old bags orders." He growls.  
  
"And I'm not saying that you have to, Inu-yasha. Just, that she might need your help."  
  
He rubs his chin, "She might need my help, hmmm. I like that. The old bag doesn't like it when I help her." He nods. "I'll do it." He grins. Kagome hides a grimace, 'Well . . . he's doing it for the wrong reason, but, still he's doing the right thing. I'll have to warn Keade so she'll know how to approach him. Still, I think I got through when I said that the villagers think that he is a bully. Hopefully he'll think about his actions around the village, now.' She thinks.  
  
Inu-yasha frowns, "But, Daichi isn't a big enough reason for you to want to be alone with me. So, what is the reason?"  
  
He pauses, "It's not about yesterday, is it? I fixed that." He finishes emphatically.  
  
Kagome grimaces, "Not totally, Inu-yasha. Although, yesterday . . . " She sighs, "While I'm not going to say was the final straw, it was close."  
  
"Final straw?" Inu-yasha asks.  
  
'Opps.' Kagome thinks, 'there I go again with a modern slang term.'  
  
"The final straw that broke the camel's back, is the full term, Inu-yasha."  
  
"So."  
  
"It means that like a camel, or a horse, for that matter, there is only so much that I can take, before I break."  
  
Inu-yasha looks at Kagome, curiously, "And what is the straw?"  
  
Kagome sighs, "it about you and Shippo, Inu-yasha."  
  
Inu-yasha doesn't move. 'What do I do?' he thinks.  
  
"Inu-yasha." Kagome whispers, looking at the ground. "How many times have I cried when Shippo has a nightmare?"  
  
"Every time." Inu-yasha growls, "the little wimp likes it when you cry over him."  
  
"Maybe." Kagome whispers. She looks at him, and continues in a stronger voice, "And, if he is doing that, Inu-yasha, I'll talk to him about it. Not you."  
  
Inu-yasha looks at her, without moving.  
  
"Inu-yasha."  
  
His eyes narrow, "Aren't you going to sit me, to force me to do that?"  
  
Kagome shakes her head, "no. Inu-yasha, I'm not. Why do you think I wanted us both up in this tree? So, I'd be reminded and not say the word."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She stares into his eyes, "because Inu-yasha, you hate that word, and you don't listen to me when I say it. So, I'm going to try to talk to you like this. Without the word, in hopes that you'll actually listen, instead of ignoring me."  
  
Inu-yasha looks at Kagome.  
  
She stares back, unflinching. Her mouth slowly forms the word, 'please.'  
  
Inu-yasha slowly nods. "Maybe." He whispers.  
  
"Thank you, Inu-yasha." She nods to him.  
  
She clears her throat, "now, to get back to what I wanted to talk about." She clears her throat a second time.  
  
"Well, I'm waiting." Inu-yasha barks.  
  
"Shush." She replies, instinctively. "You know that when I watch Shippo when he is crying," Her mouth twists, "Anybody really, truthfully, I want to help them."  
  
"Yeah. I've lost enough blood to know that, bitch."  
  
She sighs, "You know that I want to comfort Shippo after one of his nightmares."  
  
"You do."  
  
She shakes her head, "but, he still has them, Inu-yasha and they still cause him pain, and I want to help him more."  
  
"By doing what?"  
  
She takes a deep breath and she let's it slowly and loudly . . .  
  
"Inu-yasha? When you had a nightmare, what did your mother do to comfort you?" She asks.  
  
"Huh?" that question took Inu-yasha totally by surprise.  
  
He pauses, thinking, "I never really had that many nightmares while she was alive." He whispers.  
  
Kagome doesn't say a thing, 'I don't want to interrupt him.' She thinks.  
  
He grimaces, "But, there was a couple of times."  
  
He shakes his head. 'Sesshomaru's mother hated me, and she'd occasionally do things, frightening things to me, when she thought she could get away with it.' He thinks.  
  
"She hold me tight and whisper that everything would be all right." Inu- yasha whispers, his eyes staring off into space, as he remembers.  
  
"Anything else?" Kagome whispers, "like holding you to her breasts?"  
  
Inu-yasha nods, slowly, as he remembers how his mother comforted him.  
  
He blinks.  
  
He frowns.  
  
He looks at Kagome.  
  
Kagome is looking at him. Her eyes are beginning to water.  
  
"No." He growls.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"No." Inu-yasha barks, "you are not breast feeding the brat."  
  
"Tell me why." Kagome's voice is showing the strain as she keeps it low and stable.  
  
"No."  
  
She eyes flash in anger, "Inu-yasha." She growls out. "Without a reason, I'm not going to listen to you."  
  
Inu-yasha closes his fist, "I'll give you a reason, bitch. I said, no."  
  
Kagome looks at his fist and looks at his face. "And you are not a bully. I'd love to see how you'd react if you were one." Scorn colors her voice.  
  
Inu-yasha pales. He looks at his fist and opens his hand. Blood wells up from his palm, from where his claws had dug into it.  
  
"Inu-yasha, I'm giving you a chance to give me a reason not to do it." Kagome whispers, "I don't want to hurt you, but if I have to make a choice between comforting Shippo, especially after a nightmare and hurting you . . . " her voice trails off.  
  
Inu-yasha opens his mouth. He closes it.  
  
'She's mine!' he thinks, 'if she gives her breast to Shippo . . . then she's not mine.'  
  
"Inu-yasha, please, it won't change anything between us." Kagome whispers, "this is just between Shippo and myself. I am, for all intents and purposes his mother, shouldn't I act like one? Especially if I'm doing the same thing that your mother did to you."  
  
"Who the fuck cares about that crap." Inu-yasha growls. "You are not going to give him your breast, bitch, and that's final."  
  
Kagome's eyes glare at Inu-yasha, so hard and angry, he flinches.  
  
She flips her legs over the side of the branch that she's been straddling. She begins to scramble down the tree, without saying a word.  
  
Inu-yasha jumps down to her and he begins to grab her.  
  
"Go away!" Kagome pushes him away. She almost falls from the tree, but grabs the trunk before she over tips.  
  
He grabs for her.  
  
"Sit, boy!" She screams.  
  
He crashes through the tree. She hangs on for dear life, as the tree shakes as Inu-yasha breaks the branches.  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Kagome screams down to him. "Remember that time when I made up that song about 99 sit, boys!"  
  
THUMP!  
  
"Guess what Inu-yasha . . . " She pauses, "This time I'm counting down to zero. And I'm not stopping!"  
  
"No!" Inu-yasha howls!  
  
Kagome begins to sing,  
  
99 Sit, boys thump for inu-yasha sitting in the tree.  
  
99 Sit, boys, thump for inu-yasha  
  
Takes you down, laying you around 98 Sit, boys thump for inu-yasha sitting in the tree.  
  
back at the rest of the party . . .  
  
Shippo begins to smile.  
  
"I heard a crash and thump, Shippo." Sango says, "your ears are better than mine, what's happening?"  
  
Shippo's sharp thin fangs shine as he smiles, "She's singing 99 sit, boys."  
  
Miroku shakes his head, "poor Inu-yasha."  
  
"I'm sure that he deserved it." Sango says.  
  
Miroku sighs, "of course, Sango. But, what will happen when she finishes?"  
  
Sango grimaces, "Her position and his positions will be set in stone, and both of them are too stubborn to change."  
  
Miroku nods, "And since she is singing, I assume the Inu-yasha did not agree with her."  
  
Sango grimaces, "probably."  
  
"And what did she want him to do?" Miroku asks.  
  
Sango shakes her head, "that's for Kagome to say, not me, Miroku. And she needs to say it to Shippo, first."  
  
"Say what to me?" Shippo asks, excitedly.  
  
Sango replies, "that is for her to say, not me."  
  
later . . .  
  
Kagome stalks back to the group. "Inu-yasha will not be with us tonight." She croaks out.  
  
"I see." Miroku nods, knowingly.  
  
"Sango could you please pass me the water jug, my throat's dry." Kagome's voice is very rough, from overuse . . .  
  
Sango nods and passes her a jug of water.  
  
Shippo walks over, "Kagome? Do we need to talk?" he starts to ask.  
  
Kagome shakes her head, no. "Not tonight, Shippo, please. My throat hurts too much." She whispers.  
  
Shippo nods, "Ok."  
  
Later . . .  
  
Everyone is sleeping. The fire is just glowing embers.  
  
Miroku is sleeping leaning against a tree. A fresh bandage on his head.  
  
Sango is sleeping. Her hand is griping her boomerang, the freshly cleaned boomerang.  
  
Shippo and Kagome are sleeping together in her sleeping bag.  
  
Kirara is awake and on guard.  
  
Kirara's head swings around.  
  
Inu-yasha, stealthily walks up. He whispers, "you owe me one, cat."  
  
Kirara purrs, softly. Kirara's head follows Inu-yasha as he walks across the encampment.  
  
Inu-yasha bends down next to Kagome and Shippo. Kirara moves, becoming very close to Inu-yasha.  
  
The huge demon cat is so close to Inu-yasha that Kirara's breath is ruffling his hair.  
  
Inu-yasha lashes out. One of his claws hits one of Kirara's pressure points. Kirara's eyes roll up and the huge cat falls asleep.  
  
Inu-yasha breathes a sigh of relief, "I didn't know if that would work or not."  
  
"Now." He softly growls.  
  
He reaches out and grabs Shippo.  
  
Before Shippo can react, Inu-yasha jumps away into the darkness.  
  
Kagome twists in her sleep, but does not wake up . . .  
  
"Brat." Inu-yasha growls at Shippo, who is looking very frightened. "Listen. I'm only going to say this once."  
  
Shippo's eyes widen, but he doesn't speak. His frightened thoughts . . . 'The look in Inu-yasha's eyes . . . '  
  
"Someone, probably the old bag, convinced her that she needs to comfort you." Inu-yasha growls. "You're a demon. You don't need to be comforted, especially that way. Do you understand?!" He hisses.  
  
"What way?" Shippo squeaks out.  
  
Inu-yasha's face screws itself up into an expression of disgust. "Her breasts."  
  
Shippo's eyes widen, even more . . .  
  
Inu-yasha holds Shippo up to his face, his breath fills Shippo's nostrils. "Do you understand, brat?! You are not to suckle on her!" Inu-yasha screams.  
  
Shippo nods, slowly.  
  
"If you're lying, I'll hurt you!" Inu-yasha threatens.  
  
"I understand, Inu-yasha." Shippo whispers.  
  
Inu-yasha releases him, "And I want you to sleep with Sango, not her."  
  
Shippo nods, "ok." He whispers.  
  
"Good, let's go back then."  
  
'I should have threatened the brat a long time ago.' Inu-yasha thinks, please with himself, 'Now, he'll know who's boss.'  
  
back at the group . . . Everyone is still sleeping, including Kirara.  
  
Shippo walks over to Kagome.  
  
Inu-yasha whispers. "Brat . . . "  
  
Shippo turns and whispers, "I just want to get something."  
  
"Hurry it up, then."  
  
Shippo, as he stands next to Kagome's head, reaches out and pinches Kagome.  
  
Kagome's eyes open, "huh?"  
  
"Inu-yasha," Shippo says in a calm voice, "you don't want me to suckle on Kagome, is that because you do?"  
  
"You motherf---!" Inu-yasha begins to scream.  
  
"Sit, boy!" Kagome screams, interrupting him.  
  
THUMP!  
  
Miroku and Sango wake up, and instinctively stand up, prepared to fight.  
  
Kagome sits up, gathering Shippo into her arms.  
  
"He threatened me, ma . . . Kagome." Shippo whispers.  
  
"Grrr." A very ugly sound comes out of Kagome's throat.  
  
"Sit, boy." She says in a very tight voice.  
  
THUMP!  
  
"What did you do, Inu-yasha?" Kagome growls.  
  
"I fucking laid down the law, bitch!" Inu-yasha yells from the crater. "You are not breast feeding the brat!"  
  
Miroku's eyebrows rise. 'I see . . . ' he thinks. 'While the women were talking about birthing . . . that must have caused her to really think about her relationship to Shippo. And . . . is she, Shippo's mother or not?'  
  
Sango's jaw grinds, as she thinks, 'damn it, Inu-yasha. Why did you have to make a scene out this? Don't you know that is the last thing that Kagome wants?'  
  
Kagome takes a deep breath. She visibly grinds her teeth. "I gave you the chance to talk to me about this Inu-yasha. You didn't do it."  
  
Inu-yasha begins to push himself up.  
  
"Sit, boy."  
  
THUMP!  
  
"This is between myself and Shippo, Inu-yasha. I care. No. I cared enough," Kagome's voice is ice-cold. "To give you a chance to talk me out of it, you declined to take it. Now . . . You will not interfere. My decision is final."  
  
"Sit, boy."  
  
THUMP!  
  
"I am, as you always say, just your shard detector. As such, as long as detect shards, I can do anything that does not interfere with that. I am not your slave. And I am here, helping you." She waves her hands at Sango and Miroku. "And my friends, for my reasons, Inu-yasha. Not yours."  
  
"Sit, boy."  
  
THUMP!  
  
"I know that you hate the fact that I have a life beyond you." Kagome continues, "And, I've tried, and will continue to try to change my life for you. But. I will have a life separate from you. And as long as the well works, that life will include Shippo."  
  
She looks down at Shippo. She looks at Inu-yasha.  
  
Inu-yasha raises his head.  
  
"Shippo." Kagome begins to say, in a soft voice. "I am not your mother. I can't really replace her, either." She chokes up and licks her lips. "But . . . "  
  
"Kagome." Inu-yasha whines.  
  
She looks at him.  
  
In her eyes, he can see that all he has to do is say, 'please, don't.' And she'd stop . . . Inu-yasha looks around.  
  
Sango, Miroku and Shippo are also staring at him.  
  
He opens his mouth . . .  
  
He jumps up and jumps into the darkness.  
  
'Damn his pride.' Kagome thinks. 'Damn it to the deepest hell. We'll never be together, like he and I wish, until he can control it.'  
  
Sango, in a stage whisper, says, "Sorry, Kagome. We should have."  
  
"Left?" Kagome says, shaking her head. "It won't have changed anything, Sango. He won't explain his actions. He only demands."  
  
She blinks, holding back tears.  
  
"Kagome?" Shippo whispers, as he lays his head on her chest.  
  
She begins to pet his head, playing with his ears, as he purrs.  
  
"Shippo." Kagome licks her lips, "how to explain what just happened . . . "  
  
She pauses . . .  
  
She sighs, "you know that I hate it when you have nightmares."  
  
Shippo nods.  
  
"You know how I hold you and comfort you after those nightmares."  
  
He nods, rubbing his head against her chest.  
  
"When your mother was alive, did she offer you her breast to comfort you?" she whispers.  
  
"Yes." He whispers.  
  
"I am not your mother. And, since the well might stop working, I cannot adopt you."  
  
He nods. His chin quivers.  
  
"But, I care about you, Shippo. And if that means offering you my breast, to comfort you, I will. If you want me to." She whispers.  
  
"I do." Shippo whispers.  
  
Kagome nods. She waves at Sango and Miroku, "please?" she whispers.  
  
Both of them look at each other. They nod and walk away.  
  
"Shippo." Kagome whispers.  
  
"Yes, Kagome?"  
  
"Do not tease Inu-yasha about this. Promise me."  
  
"Kagome." Shippo whines.  
  
"No." She replies sharply. "He hates this. Do not tease him about it."  
  
He sighs, "Ok . . . "  
  
"And, remember," Kagome continues sharply, "he will know if you are faking a nightmare, so, don't push it."  
  
"Takes all the fun out of it." Shippo whispers.  
  
"This isn't funny, Shippo." Kagome replies, sharply.  
  
Shippo grimaces, 'I hate it when she uses that tone.'  
  
She sighs, "hopefully. He'll ignore it. He tends to do that when he can't control something. And if he does that, this will blow over. If you tease him, that's the wrong thing to do, and I will not like it."  
  
"I understand." Shippo sighs . . .  
  
Kagome sighs, 'I had hoped to talk to Inu-yasha and Shippo together . . . and try to get them to talk to each other. Both Shippo and Inu-yasha hate it when I pay attention to the other. They are sooo jealous of each other, and about losing my attention.' She thinks, 'I wanted to talk to them and try to explain that I care for both of them and they don't have to compete for my attention, but . . . Inu-yasha.' She sighs.  
  
"Kagome?" Shippo whispers.  
  
Kagome's mouth twists into a semi-smile, "It's nothing, Shippo. Just remember what I've just said, don't tease Inu-yasha." She pauses, "I'm not your mother, but, I think."  
  
She looks into his eyes, "I think that we mean something to each other, so, as a favor. Please, don't tease him." She begs.  
  
"Or fake a nightmare."  
  
Kagome nods.  
  
"No fun. No fun at all." Shippo whispers.  
  
"And don't tease Miroku, either."  
  
Shippo looks at her, his eyes wide and begging, "please let me have some fun, please?"  
  
She shakes her head. "Shippo, you might have some fun, but all that would happen is Miroku would get beat up even more, and Inu-yasha would take his frustrations on Miroku."  
  
'No fun.' Shippo thinks.  
  
"Promise?" Kagome whispers, holding out her hand, her pinky is extended.  
  
Shippo sighs, mightily. He reaches out and wraps his pinky around her. "No teasing. No fake nightmares. That Ok?"  
  
Kagome smiles and wraps Shippo in her arms, hugging him.  
  
Sango, once she and Miroku are out of sight, slaps Miroku across the face.  
  
"Lady Sango." Miroku rubs his cheek. "What, pray tell, was that for?"  
  
"You were thinking about faking a nightmare and then tricking Kagome, or myself, into letting you suckle on us."  
  
"And, I am being punished for something I haven't done?"  
  
Sango nods. "You'll do it."  
  
Miroku purses his lips, and then shakes his head. "Lady Sango. No. Sango. I disagree."  
  
Sango's eyes widen and she takes a step back from Miroku.  
  
"I will be very honest that thought, or something similar did pass through my mind." "You admit it." She says in triumph.  
  
"I am not finished." Miroku says quickly. "But, I would never have acted upon that thought."  
  
"I don't believe you."  
  
"Sango." Miroku shakes his head. "How many times have I said, 'Tomorrow, because of my curse, could be my last day on earth. Would you or Kagome please allow me to make love to you, so that my bloodline will continue?'"  
  
"Never." Sango whispers.  
  
"If I did, would you or Kagome say no?" Miroku asks, looking into Sango's eyes.  
  
She quickly looks at the ground. "Of course we'd say no."  
  
"Tell me that, while you look into my eyes."  
  
"Damn you, Monk." Sango growls, still looking at the ground.  
  
Miroku doesn't say a thing, nor does he move.  
  
"I apologize." Sango says, in a low voice.  
  
"I accept your apology, Lady Sango." Miroku smiles as he bows to her.  
  
"Monk . . . Miroku, why haven't you asked that question?" Sango asks. 'I've always been frightened that he would. There is no way that I or Kagome could tell him no.' she thinks.  
  
He sighs. He reaches out, cups Sango's chin and looks deep into her eyes. "Because, you two are not girls that I can just use and leave. And . . . "  
  
"And?" Sango whispers.  
  
He steps close. They are almost nose to nose . . .  
  
His eyes twinkle, "and . . . "  
  
His other hand reaches around and squeezes Sango's rear.  
  
She instinctively slaps him across the face with one hand. Her other hand shoves him backward and away from her. "Monk!"  
  
She spins around and stalks off.  
  
Once she vanishes . . .  
  
"And . . . I love you." Miroku whispers in a low enough voice, so only he can hear. "So . . . I'm not going to lie to you about my curse."  
  
'Still . . . Keade and the village girls convinced Kagome to share her breasts.' Miroku thinks. 'And, the spring festival, the I-shin-po scrolls . . . I wonder is Kagome's thoughts about sex changing?' He nods. 'Yes. I think so. I wonder what will happen next? Will I get my wish for an orgy, especially with both of them at the same time?'  
  
"Damn him." Sango mumbles under her breath, in a low voice, which only she can hear. "Why does he do that? I love the bastard, but . . . I'm not a piece of meat for him for fondle."  
  
a couple of nights later . . .  
  
"No!" Shippo screams in his sleep. The nightmare has his body twisted into a fetal curl. "NO! DON'T DIE! MOM!"  
  
His eyes open. His body is covered in sweat. His fur is wet and matted down. He is shaking, like a leaf . . .  
  
Kagome is holding him, slowly rocking him. "Everything is fine, Shippo. Your safe. I'm here." She whispers.  
  
Shippo begins to cry and he snuggles into Kagome's chest.  
  
Kagome bites her lips. 'No. I'm not going to look at anyone else.' She thinks. 'What they are looking at doesn't matter. Comforting Shippo matters more to me and than any embarrassment.'  
  
One of her hands slides to her nightgown.  
  
Kagome can hear Inu-yasha start to growl.  
  
She unbuttons her nightgown.  
  
'Do I stop her?' Inu-yasha thinks as his eyes, even in the darkness see what Kagome is doing. 'IF I do . . . She's made it plain that this is her idea and that she intends to do it.'  
  
His eyes flick to the others in the group. Shippo's screams have awoken them, as well. They are looking at him. He glances away. 'They'll support her. I could see that.' He looks at his clawed hand.  
  
His ears flick as he hears Shippo's mouth begin to suckle on Kagome's breast. He forms a fist. Blood begins to trickle from between his fingers. 'I can't. He lost his parents, just like me . . . If someone had cared about me like she cares about him . . . I can't'  
  
Inu-yasha growls and jumps away into the darkness. 'But, I'm not going to stand there and watch it, either.'  
  
Kagome's ears hear Inu-yasha as he jumps away, with screaming at her.  
  
She sighs, 'I'm going to have to apologize to him and find some sort of present for him.'  
  
She hisses, and whispers, "Shippo. Your teeth are sharp."  
  
"Sorry." He whines.  
  
"It's ok." Kagome places his mouth on her teat. "Just remember that my breasts are sensitive."  
  
Kagome rocks Shippo to sleep, his mouth locked on her teat . . . a smile on his face . . .  
  
Sango looks at Miroku. He is looking at Sango.  
  
She raises an eyebrow in a silent question.  
  
"I do respect her privacy." Miroku whispers.  
  
Sango rolls her eyes and shakes her head.  
  
"That's a surprise." She whispers back.  
  
"I do. I mean it." He hisses back.  
  
The end motherhood . . .  
  
The storyline: A shard in Kyoto takes place soon after this storyline. (Miroku doesn't quite get his wish, but there is a scene that is close in that story.)  
  
I have a couple of reviews question my sources and accuracy of those sources.  
  
Shrug. There aren't a lot of sources available. As such, the amount of knowledge is limited, and as such, it becomes easy to go off on a tangent, that may not be totally accurate.  
  
But. The fact that Japanese families did sleep in the same room is correct. (It even happens today.) The fact that historically Japanese are more casual then in the US, about nudity and sex is correct. The face that uncle/niece marriage were accepted is correct. In many marriages the mother/son or father/daughter bond is the strongest bond in the family. (Please note: since many marriages were not love matches, but arraigned, this does make sense, the love that should have gone to the husband or wife, gets transferred to the children.)  
  
So... If people are sleeping together, and nudity and sex are more open... To me, it follows that sex is more common.  
  
If you wish to believe that sex did not happen between family members, so be it.  
  
While my story is NOT totally accurate, (I could easily be over-estimating the amount of incest), I believe it to be more accurate than a story in which incest does NOT exist...  
  
Please note this applies to anything pre-1600 in japan. What knowledge that exists, especially anything that details the day to day life, is basically all from the upper classes, either written by them, or written for them. There is some information from religious ie monastery sources. But that's it. And both of these sources have tremendously built in biases and preformed cultural ideas. (It would be like taking a "biography," of say, Frank Sinatra or John F Kennedy and assuming that is how everyone lives.)  
  
As to the accuracy of those sources?  
  
Hard to say. Most people assume that the totally accurate. But is it?  
  
Some readers will know the novel "Genji: the Shining prince" by murasaki shikibu.  
  
Here is a link that emphasizes a different POV about some of the sex scenes in that novel. (Which is the first novel in the world)  
  
remove the spaces for the link.  
  
sengokudaimyo. com/ ForcedAffection. html  
  
People generally write things to be popular. As such, there is a tremendous tendency to edit potentially negative things. Most of the sources from pre- 1600 japan have been known about for centuries. Which gives a lot of people plenty of chances to edit out things. (If memory serves, the source story for Genji: the shining prince is an edition from the 1700's. the earliest know copy is from 1400's.)  
  
A modern example of people editing out things that might be bad.  
  
During last half of 1945, the US army prosecuted about 250 soldiers for rape, worldwide.  
  
During the first month of US occupation of Japan, during 1945, from Japanese sources, more than 1000 rapes occurred.  
  
Which is real? (Chances are... both are wrong. US occupation forces wanted to present a clean image, so, unless forced, they probably ignored reports. The Japanese people, during the war, were force feed a lot of anti-us horror stories, so, once the us troops arrived, reports of 'bad things' happening would be believed and spread.)  
  
There are also translation difficulties. Written Japanese, especially early works, are by modern standards vaguely written and do not translate well. So . . . you can put the same source quote in front of, say, three different translators and you'd get three different translations. (They all should be similar, but, there will be differences.)  
  
Also, if your translating for English/American audiences and you want the book to be successful, you've got to handle the very loose attitudes toward sex and multiple wives/concubines very carefully. So, leaving out, or reducing the impact of various passages that might offend, is very easy to do.  
  
thank you for reading jeff shelton 


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